For Pakistan to reform and become a state where writ of law is established, the civil service must be surgically restructured and there should be no room for lateral entrants like Qamar Chaudhry or Irfan Elahi etc. This country needs a civil bureaucracy which strictly works within confines of laws in existence and perform role of servants of people and shed forever the legacy of British Raj to be agents of foreign powers and tools of oppression. 

Quaid-e-Azam emphatically stated that civil and uniformed bureaucracy which Pakistan inherited in 1947 needs to be restructured to perform role of servants of people. The British Colonialists selected willing collaborators and trained these natives as civil servants and members of uniformed services to help oppress local population and prolong their occupation by threats of intimidation, torture, bribes etc and in case of refusal managing their disappearance and harsh imprisonment. 

Raj created Indian Civil Service comprising of locals selected through competitive examinations, but realized that they were confused having doubts about legality of orders, given by superiors. To overcome this obstacle they resorted to direct lateral recruitment from uniformed services, who would follow orders, without being captive to pangs of conscience. Brutal massacres like Jaliawala Bagh incidence were stage managed to terrorize local population using locals in para-military forces under command of British officer. Mohd Ali Jinnah referred to this legacy in his 11 August 1947 address when he stated “biggest curse from which India is suffering is bribery and corruption”. 

In Jinnah’s Pakistan “the first duty of a Government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State”. Today both private and state property including thousands of acres of forest land have been occupied by powerful land mafia in nexus with elected and paid public office holders employed in civil and uniformed services. Plots and houses built on illegally occupied land are advertised and sold to public raising billions, and part of this loot used to bribe public office holders and stage façade of charity, while powerful branded lawyers were hired to seek adjournments to facilitate construction and marketing. 

MALIK TARIQ,  

Lahore, May 23.