More equal than others

• Making sense of rise and fall of blue-eyed bureaucrats

What does it take to become an ace bureaucrat in Pakistan? Well, dearest sirs and ma’ams, It takes heaps of luck, unparalleled hard work, allocation to the only good group — read former District Management Group (DMG), present Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) — and last but definitely not the least, a political master who has your back if you respond to his every beck and call, be it fair or foul, right or not so right.

Gone and dead are the days when babus were of Sikandar Mirza, Governor Ghulam Muhammad or Ghulam Ishaq Khan stature who had the rise and fall of politicians in their fists. The past masters, after taking a lot of beating from their khaki counterparts, are now reduced to the status of handmaidens available to do the dirty work in return of prized postings, rampant promotions and a direct line to the man on top.

The bureaucracy, in our land of the free and pure, is the most reviled, most condemned institute. Coming second only to politicians, the masses hold bureaucrats responsible for things ranging from bad governance, shattered roads and infrastructure to absence of water in their taps. The bureaucrats, however, are of the view that they are more sinned against than sinning. They believe they are mere tools and cogs in a machine that is headed by political strongman, tempered by elusive powers-that-be, inundated with shortages of funds and manpower, and hammered into pulp by an over-enthusiastic media.

Few babus, the mighty and influential, all of a sudden were threatened with a stick they were not accustomed to. For them the arrest of the most pivotal one has ominous signs

In this background Ahad Khan Cheema episode unfolded. Cheema is the product of one of Pakistan’s most meritorious exam; CSS. A free-for-all battle of nerves where the scions of wealthy families are pitted against hardworking sons and daughters of middle and lower-middle class. The candidates from rural background with their more stamina to sit-and-study for long hours compete against those from urban centres having advantage of better schooling, sharpened analytical skills and more facilities.

Ahad Khan Cheema, the former DCO Lahore, Director General Lahore Development Authority and CEO of Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Company (QATPC) had a lustrous and enviable service record until NAB nabbed him. The rise and rise of Ahad Khan Cheema, let us not forget, is due to feats other than the commonly believed notion of being the blue-eyed boy of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Called ‘Metro Man’ for delivering the Lahore Metro Bus project in record time and heading the ‘Parha Likha Punjab’ during reign of Q-League, the ace bureaucrat has just experienced his Icarian fall. Will he rise again like a phoenix or will he give in and blurt out what is required of him? Only Lord Time knows.

What we know, for a fact, is that bureaucracy is a house divided. The top tier of the hierarchy is captured by hegemons of Pakistan Administrative Service. They are so entrenched and pampered that few weeks back officers of Office Management Group protested in front of Establishment Division against the excesses of PAS and sheer apathy, rather aversion towards officers of lesser cadre. Add to this the irate Provincial Management Services of all four provinces and how their officers suffer due to preference given to PAS officers, their enemies are plenty. This was abundantly obvious in recent days when the rift between provincial civil servants and federal ones surfaced amidst broad media glare.

Few babus, the mighty and influential, all of a sudden were threatened with a stick they were not accustomed to. For them the arrest of the most pivotal one has ominous signs. They stood together, and now with one domino down, it seems like only a matter of time that it’ll be their turn to face the music. Now, they’ve come across a similar existential crisis that marks human existence: Now that they’ve dared to overreach and done things, made decisions and helped in deed now put under scrutiny and totally above their pay grades what lies in the offing for the most secured ones? Every passing moment the age old allegations of dubious role bureaucracy played in steering this country away from its destination will gain new currency.

Dr Ishaq Hussain in one of his essays ‘Retooling Institutions’ in an anthology titled ‘Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis State’ has lamented that since Bhutto’s era the civil services have become a reservoir of those who seek social mobility through the stature and promise of office. Also, he quotes a study done by International Crisis Group that observed that ‘decades of mismanagement political manipulation and corruption have rendered Pakistan’s Civil Service incapable of providing effective governance and basic public services. In public perception the country’s 2.4 million civil servants are widely seen as unresponsive and corrupt, and bureaucratic procedures cumbersome and exploitative’.

The whole Ahad Khan Cheema Saga reminds one of Animal Farm, where after the revolution against human exploiters ultimately led to a new kind of equality. Where all animals were equal, while some animals were declared more equal than others. Maybe it is the beginning of the end for more equal animals amidst Pakistani bureaucracy. Or maybe another false dawn.