Daily Times

The civil bureaucracy was considered ‘steel frame’ of the colonial state in British India. And steel frame it was for the illiterate, downtrodden and resourceless masses who were structurally controlled by the white colonialists in collaboration with the non-white local landed and mercantile elite. If Hamza Alavi is any guide, in certain cases the state, comprised of civil bureaucracy, served the vested interests of the bourgeoisie, though, at times, the state maintained its autonomy too. Post-partition, the civil bureaucracy merely witnessed the structural transformation from a colonial to a post-colonial state. Indeed, with the creation of offices such as secretary general, the civil bureaucracy further tightened its grip over the state’s administrative and fiscal apparatuses. Little wonder, the civil bureaucracy, being a powerful force in the early phase of our history, developed stakes in the politics of Pakistan too.

Thus, in the wake of the assassination of the country’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, the then finance minister, Ghulam Mohammad, a powerful bureaucrat, assumed, through hook and crook, the governorship from Khawaja Nazimmuddin — a Bengali politician. Within two years, the latter’s government was dismissed by the governor-general too. Indeed, in 1954, he arbitrarily dissolved the country’s constituent assembly too, thus, generating a constitutional crisis decided uniquely by the apex court in his favour. Mohammad was replaced as governor-general by Iskander Mirza, another bureaucrat who experimented with political engineering in terms of creating the country’s first so-called ‘king’s party’. Mirza assumed the powers of the president under the terms of the 1956 constitution. The constitution was, by the way, brainchild of another bureaucrat, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali.

By 1958, President Mirza was so much obsessed with power that he literally declared martial law and, paradoxically, appointed General Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator of the country. However, within twenty days the same year, Mirza, having realised the fact that he had over-empowered a general, demoted Ayub Khan to become prime minister. The latter, having tasted power, reacted and staged a coup against Mirza led bureaucratic rule. The Ayub regime, as the data suggest, purged the civil bureaucracy of ‘undesirable elements’. Yahya Khan and, importantly, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did the same. Bhutto did not trust the normal state bureaucracy and, therefore, established the Federal Security Force (FSF) that served as kind of a parallel police. The Zia regime further decreased the political, if not fiscal, role of the civil services. Nevertheless, under the Musharraf regime, the civil bureaucracy faced the music: the formed modified the latter’s organisational structure thus decreasing, for example, the powers and role of District Management Group. Indeed, in principle, the police etc were subordinated to the local bodies.

Until the civil bureaucracy especially the police invokes its institutional agency and the inherent moral sense to abide by the book, the political class will continue to use it for petty purposes and the educated and the poor will continue to suffer

On the paper, the idea of pacing the civil bureaucracy under the civilians was a wonderful idea. In practice, however, it was superfluous for the (local) politicians, on the one hand, failed to control, for example, the police due to their personal dependency on it and, on the other, due to their collective unwillingness to empower the masses by bringing bureaucracy to book. In other words, the political class had already developed liaison with the bureaucracy in order to continue its socioeconomic and electoral hold in a respective constituency. Since the majority of the masses especially in the rural setting lack in education and resources, both the civil bureaucracy particularly the police and the political class have, overall, consolidated the structural subjugation of the poor and the marginalised.

It is unfortunate to observe that the Punjab government under Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is ruling Punjab for past ten years in a row, has consciously left no stone unturned to further politicise and personalise the civil bureaucracy especially the police. The latter has been turned into a personal service of the Sharifs whereby they appointed officers such as DPOs and CCPOs whom they found loyal to them than the state. Seeking loyalty from the civil services constrain the career prospectus of otherwise young and talented youth which collectively come from the middle classes. It indeed would be a testing time, morally if not institutionally, for, for example, a DPO in Punjab when he has to decide between his oath and law and the arbitrary orders of the CM. Owing to rational reasons, the majority comply with the political bosses; the minority, that prefers the book, is either instantly transferred to irrelevant departments or forcibly fired. I know certain friends of mine who work in the police; they are young, talented and conscious of their job obligations. However, they do face political pressures, which, in cases, lead to compromise or punishment. If the social media is trusted, the DPO Bahawalpur case falls in the punishment category.

However, the DPO Hafizabad case falls in the compromise category. Ten days ago, certain rural rascals of my village, located in the same district, hit my car with three motorbikes. They hurled automated weapons at us; I did not stop the car. They chased us but I drove speedily and thus escaped. I submitted an application to DPO Hafizabad; he marked it and asked me to see SHO Sukheki in person. I saw the latter who was chatting with some local PMLN politicians. I requested him to register an FIR, which is my legal right. He refused to since he was politically and financially influenced by the local politicians who use such rascals to maintain their sociopolitical and electoral monopoly in the constituency. Being dejected, I left for Islamabad. I had the option to use the same militant means against the rascals but my education and moral sense stopped me. Now, whom should I resort to for justice? The CM Punjab? The Chief Justice? The Chief of Army Staff?

In a country where the PhDs lack justice and relief, what to talk of those millions who are abused every day and who die in despair. Until the civil bureaucracy especially the police invokes its institutional agency and the inherent moral sense to abide by the book, the political class will continue to use it for petty purposes and the educated and the poor will continue to suffer. Last, it is not the colour of the police uniform that brings change; it is the mindset, if changed, can set forth a durable change.

The writer is Head, Department of Social Sciences, Iqra University, Islamabad. He is a DAAD, FDDI and Fulbright Fellow. He tweets @ejazbhatty

Published in Daily Times, May 20^th 2018.