Daily Times

In my piece last week, I had dealt at length on the making of the godfather and his mafia. I had also touched on the reasons why the godfather has to be defended and promoted by a host of decrepit foot soldiers because everyone who does it can treat himself as a potential beneficiary of the largesse of the state which is being doled out mercilessly.

I had also spoken about the complicity of various individuals and institutions in promoting and strengthening this culture of corruption. The most important peg in securing this vicious cycle is the role of the civil services, known variously through different phases of public management in the country.

Donning the attire of public servants, but invariably beholden to the ruling mafias for their promotions, perks and privileges, the local sahibs go through the motions of their routine more as benefaction to subjects and serfs rather than as duty to citizens

The Quaid was fully sensitive to this key aspect of governance. In his address to the civil servants in Peshawar in April, 1948, he was unequivocal in defining their role and where their loyalty should belong.

His words still resonate emphatically: “Governments are formed, governments are defeated. Prime Ministers come and go, ministers come and go, but you stay on, and, therefore, there is a very great responsibility placed on your shoulders. You should have no hand in supporting this political party or that political party, this political leader or that political leader — this is not your business.”

It was loyalty to the state that he professed in preference to loyalty to one or the other individual, or one or the other government. Instead of pursuing the prescribed path to professional glory and making their requisite contribution to the development of the new-born state, the civil servants chose servility to individuals in preference to service to the state. Over time, bureaucracy became the principal constituent of the mafia, engaged gainfully in making, protecting and promoting godfathers and their coterie of accomplices. To hide their blushes, and in replication of the judiciary which invented the doctrine of necessity to legalise military takeovers in the country, the civil servants would invariably script their own rationale absolving them of any disservice to the state or their role in strengthening the tentacles of dictatorship.

The history of Pakistan is replete with glaring instances of where and when the civil servants, both as individuals and as a community, could have reversed the tide of time and put the country on course to redemption, but they wilfully opted to side with promoting authoritarian norms as an effective ploy for advancing their selfish cause.

According to my friend, Javed Hasan Aly, a former civil servant par excellence, and a person of great learning and understanding, the tendency acquired rather early of arrogating to themselves direct exercise of political authority is a malaise that continues to infest the body politic of the state. Notwithstanding the role of Chaudhry Mohammad Ali in placing the first brick in erecting this flawed edifice, the ultimate ignominy of dismissing the constituent assembly of the country rests with Malik Ghulam Mohammad, a civil servant turned finance minister turned politician. He earned the notoriety of giving rise to the original culture of political intrigue, thus undermining the concept of civilian control over the military.

The trail of civil servants that followed, but for a few honourable exceptions, amplified further the degenerate trends set by their adopted mentors, thus sinking lower into the vile pit of glorifying their personal stature and, by natural extension, that of their masters. So, over time, the state became subservient to their role as intriguers and maleficent promoters of the culture of self-interest.

A further grievous blow which impacted the impartiality and integrity of the civil servants was administered in the early seventies when constitutional protection available to them was withdrawn. As a consequence, the civil servants became vulnerable to a variety of perverse incentives. Thereafter, the servility and obsequiousness of the civil servants became the criteria for promotion and recognition in preference to their competence and integrity.

In current times, it is painful to see a coterie of below-par individuals lording over the fate of the state and its people. Donning the attire of public servants, but invariably beholden to the ruling mafias for their promotions, perks and privileges, the local sahibs go through the motions of their routine more as benefaction to subjects and serfs rather than as duty to citizens.

Civil servants becoming conduits for chartering and implementing devious machinations on behalf of a bunch of corrupt rulers is now a norm. In fact, they are both the instigators and the cheer-leaders for weaving vile webs of deceit to hide the ugly face of the godfather whom they ingratiate for securing their petty, personal interests. Degrading themselves to the lowest of the low, even swearing personal allegiance to the godfather and his accomplices will not shame them if this were to advance their guileful objectives.

In the process, instead of working to hold high the dignity and esteem of the institutions they are serving, they become pawns in the hands of the ruling mafia in dismantling them so that those in the power echelons could continue their malevolent reign of loot and plunder without being held accountable.

Civil bureaucracy is always the face of the government in power whose efficiency and transparency are directly linked to the presence of such-like qualities in the team of civil servants associated with it. What is even more disheartening is that, in spite of a phenomenal drop in the minimum benchmarks in these areas owing to the incompetence and rank corruption of some individuals, not a murmur of protest is heard from within the larger fraternity of civil servants.

Being both the co-architects and direct beneficiaries of the gross corruption prevalent in the country, surpassing all previous barometers, the civil servants see no demons. They will not because they don’t want to. They would much rather swim with the tide as long as they remain gainfully engaged and there are pandering subjects around to ingratiate their bloated egos.

Such is the cumulative sickness of governance in the country. And, such are the reasons for the continued expansion of the fiefdom of godfather and his attendant mafia!

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan

Published in Daily Times, July 2^nd, 2017.