Typical N-league
It is interesting, to say the least, that the prime minister never tires of calling for government sector reforms yet his administration continues with a style of crucial appointments that can only be described as nepotism. According to news reports, there is considerable unrest in the foreign office. Nawaz’s latest affront, it seems, concerns the appointment of a non-career diplomat to an important position in Canada. The PM’s blue-eyed, a commerce and trade officer, is already serving as consul general in Istanbul since ’10, and will now conveniently bypass rules and regulations – which mandate two-years in the parent group before another outing – to take up another prized position in Ottawa. Again, despite the uproar such moves cause now and then, the prime minister never budges from his ‘official’ position of calling for civil service reforms.
Unfortunately, those expecting the government to abandon such policies are likely to be disappointed. If such things mattered, criticism about the cult of postings in police and district management would have sufficed to alter course. Clearly, they stick to the ‘old ways’ to keep a loyal, indebted, and quiet bureaucratic bunch around them to ensure a complete grip on power. It does not matter, of course, that disturbing the civil service has a proportional negative impact on governance and public service. What matters is complete obedience within the government machinery that allows an autocratic style of governance. Even after the military openly chastised the Sindh government for interference in important postings, and involved apex committees in the decision-making process, the centre refuses to see the writing on the wall.
And it’s not as if such interference does not affect the working of the foreign office as well. Already it functions without a fulltime minister, and no manner of outrage has convinced Nawaz Sharif of the importance of one. Gracing friends and loyalists with foreign assignments has not only upset the Service’s natural transfer and posting procedure, it is also affecting bilateral and trade relations in some cases – Turkey being a case in point, where Sharif’s non-career appointment has resulted in shrinking of annual trade. These below-par inductees then rise up the ladder, through similar nepotism, and end up compromising the structure of the Service. It is little surprise, in hindsight, that the FO embarrassed itself when the matter of taking sides in the Middle East came up recently. It seems more occupied with petty issues than matter which should concern it more. The government is advised to change its approach, lest it erodes whatever little credibility the bureaucracy still enjoys.