LAHORE: A good number of the provincial officers expressed mixed reaction to the Panama leaks final judgment that ousted the premier, Nawaz Sharif. Some officers showed pleasure while others called it an attack on democracy.
Those who are enjoying good slots in the province are either in the Civil Secretariat or in the field formations expressed concerns saying the apex court stroke hard on the ongoing development schemes across the country. “Not only work on the motorways will be badly affected but the CPEC will not be an exception,” they said. "If CM Shahbaz leaves the province to become the PM," they warned, "the ongoing projects like Orange Line would meet a poor fate."
Moreover, they acknowledged that the faction of bureaucracy that was fed up of the CM Shahbaz Sharif’s micromanagement and could not meet the Shahbaz Speed was forced to leave important slots. They were either posted secretaries to less important departments or members of the Board of Revenue (BOR). Another secretary said that the Supreme Court order gave officers a moral courage to stand on the ground of law and deny illegal directions of the government.
“Even after the Anita Turab case, a ray of hope was created among the bureaucracy about their rights but this historic judgment that shook the regime would pave the way for further rule of law”, they said.
An officer whom the chief executive had censured said that the civil bureaucracy was brutally victimized during recent years, adding some officers were forced to resign, go on long leave, transferred to other provinces or work under junior officers. “One of my friends, a Director General of Livestock and Dairy Development Department, along with other directors, was arrested and sent behind the bars on the orders from power corridors whom the court issued clean chit,” the officer said.
He said that those involved in corrupt practices in the L&DD then enjoyed lavish postings. The underrated bureaucracy by the regime means problems of the people will go unresolved and a defensive paranoia will seep into the system. "Not only institutions will be destroyed but also rule of law will add to the suffering of a common man," the officer asserted.
A federal secretary also requesting anonymity responding a query said that the CM Shahbaz if elevated to the status of the PM would face hardships as the working in the federation was different from Punjab. The CM Shahbaz establishes companies, authorities, and agencies in the province to deliver fast and to avoid departmental paraphernalia, but the practice in the federation was contrary to it. The ministries and divisions work under the given rules and there is the least interference of the premier in their matters.
Moreover, he said that the CM Shahbaz policy to post junior officers as secretaries or on the helm of affairs like he did in the case of Ahad Cheema, a grade 18 officer was posted as the HED Secretary, would not be tolerated in Islamabad. He foresees a wing of S&GAD in the PM Office to deal the provincial bureaucracy, the officer said.
Quoting an agency official source the secretary said, “The lists of the officers involved in mega corruption scams are being prepared in Punjab who will face the music soon”. The regime should honour bureaucratic self-preservation that is too corrosive to be tolerated. No pillar of the state should enjoy an absolute authority rather credibility and balance of power.
"Moreover, the official work was badly affected after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) submitted its probe report and findings in the Supreme Court," said a senior secretary to the government of Punjab. "Not only Civil Secretariat but the CM Office too underwent the same type of working," he added.
“The officers usually sit together and talk about the possible outcome of the JIT and then the apex court ruling,” the officer told the correspondent. "The flow of files and summaries from the Chief Secretary Office to the CM Office and vice versa hit low during the last few days," the officer told.