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OPINION
Pakistan’s Colonial-Style Bureaucracy
The Raj-style bureaucracy
By
Muhammad Usama Khalid
1214
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The British ruled the Subcontinent for almost 200 years, all the way from 1757 to 1947. The colonial rule ended in 1947 with the partition of the Subcontinent into two sovereign states: Pakistan and India. Even though it has been seven decades since colonial rule ended in 1947, the dismal mark of colonial legacy has had a significant influence over the indigenous culture of Subcontinent. An evident example, English is being given priority over other national languages and has been adopted for official use in both Pakistan and India. Similarly, other changes made by the British in the subcontinent included the introduction of entirely English-style local bureaucracies that have been providing more administrative powers to certain individuals than the democratically elected political elites even in the current post-colonial era.
Looking into the case of Pakistan’s bureaucratic structure, which it inherited from the Indian Civil Service (ICS) of the Colonial era, it can be seen how such a flawed bureaucratic structure is undermining the democratic norms in the country. The Subcontinent experienced decolonization in 1947 with the partition of united India into two sovereign states but failed to move on forward from the British colonial legacy even after the 70-odd years of independence. The country’s bureaucratic structure is the most pertinent example of colonial legacy.
Today, in almost all of the developed countries, bureaucrats are highly qualified people who run the designated government institutions or departments instead of managing cities, municipalities, or towns. Whereas, in Pakistan, bureaucracy still acts on the 19th century system of civil services introduced by English colonial masters. This system has been criticized for being manipulative as it is said to only serve those few individuals, who are in power.
While, an entry point into the bureaucracy, the Central Superior Services (CSS) examinations, has flawed parameters to measure a person’s educational excellence. The CSS exams kills the creativity of a person and nullifies the worth of a person’s higher education because of Victorian-styled English being the definitive parameter necessary to qualify this exam. Resultantly, many capable students cannot make it to the higher echelons of civil bureaucracy every year due to a weak grip over English language. Subsequently, Pakistan’s current bureaucracy is replete with and run by simple BA-Pass, CSS-qualified officers who are more powerful and respectful than highly educated PhD.
The similar superiority of civil servants is still maintained as it was during the colonial rule of White
Sahab because the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS), the most powerful services group in the bureaucracy, sits at the top of all other bureaucratic services groups and all the recruitments in PAS are done through the sams e CSS exams. Similarly, the culture of
Sahab/Afsar in the government offices is still present even today, that somehow entailing the continuation of Master and Slave analogy of the colonial era. A trend that needs to change.
The commracy must be changedittee has proposed some viable policy changes and solutions. It has suggested, among other things, that competent people should be recruited based on their educational qualification instead of colonial-styled competitive exams (CSS). Performance-based criteria should be utilized in the government institutions so that more and more competent youth join the civil bureaucracy with the passion to serve the nation. Along with these reforms, decolonization of the current bureaucratic structure is also extremely important in order for everlasting national success.
It can therefore be argued that, behind Pakistan’s stagnant progress as a state since the partition, lies the defective bureaucratic structure of the colonial era which has no room for the passionately creative, talented and hard-working individuals. Similarly, another reason for the underperformance is the absence of incentives such as performance-based criteria of promotion, or extra bonus, for diligent bureaucrats, instead the same traditional method of promotion based on seniority criteria is followed.
Moreover, governance through the model of Commissioners as prevalent in Pakistan, which nullifies the basis of democratically-elected Local Body Government system. An assistant commissioner or deputy commissioner enjoys more legally-authorized powers than an elected mayor of any area. Subsequently, in the current era, a huge part of the young population eagerly desires to qualify the CSS in order to exercise the same power and enjoy the same perks that have been successfully transmitted to us by the same colonial mindset left here by English colonizers. More tragically, people of the subcontinent happily embraced this flawed system of governance with closed eyes and open arms.
Furthermore, despite being not so strong financially, the bureaucracy in the country still receives hefty protocol and enjoys manifold perks and privileges. The lifestyle of bureaucrats is entirely different from that of the common citizens. Bureaucrats are entitled to government residences, given a family medical allowance, children education allowance, transport allowance and a number of other perks.
In other words, it can be said that bureaucrats in Pakistan still live that life which the English colonizers had lived while ruling this region as a superior race. It is quite evident that such a huge lifestyle gap, between the common Pakistani community and the bureaucratic elites of Pakistan, has been polarizing the society into two classes; ruling bourgeoisies (bureaucracy) and ruled proletariats (common citizens).
The structural foundation of Pakistan’s administrative bureaucracy is outdated and has no parallel in any modern democratic state elsewhere. Instead, modern democracies around the world have transferred these powers equivalent to ACs and DCs to the more democratically elected governors, mayors and town councils that not only decentralized the power at the grassroots levels, but also promoted democratic norms and values at the lower levels.
Eventually, Pakistan’s current government has established s civil service reform committee headed by Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan for Institutional Reforms and Austerity, to carry out comprehensive and sustainable changes in the contemporary flawed bureaucratic structure. The committee has proposed some viable policy changes and solutions. It has suggested, among other things, that competent people should be recruited based on their educational qualification instead of colonial-styled competitive exams (CSS). Performance-based criteria should be utilized in the government institutions so that more and more competent youth join the civil bureaucracy with the passion to serve the nation. Along with these reforms, decolonization of the current bureaucratic structure is also extremely important in order for everlasting national success.
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