THE BUREAUCRATS:

By: Zafar Hilaly

Few bureaucracies enjoy a good reputation for efficiency, creativity or innovation. In almost every country
the bureaucracy is viewed poorly and bureaucrats are written of disparagingly. Alas, much of the criticism
is well deserved.
Bureaucrats are indeed rude, impatient, cruel, overbearing, hurried, ignorant, indifferent to other peoples
problems, insolent and corrupt. Only last week Punjab police officials killed a dozen or so protesters. The
fact is that politics, bribes, friendships and favours dominate when it comes to recruitment, postings and
promotions in our bureaucracy. Merit, if it counts at all, is secondary.
For this reason our bureaucrats are rarely praised; and when they retire, or die, its mostly good riddance.
There are some rare exceptions. Qudratullah Shahab (1917-1986) was one but thats because his
writings appealed to a vocal section of the literati. It was nothing he did (or could do) as the federal
information secretary. Another was Agha Shahi (1920-2006) who has an Avenue (9th) in Islamabad
named after him, although few really know why; and for those who say they do, apparently Agha Shahis
considerable diplomatic prowess was not the main reason.
Anyway, if civil servants are to be rewarded by the naming of Islamabads roads surely more than one of
them in nearly seven decades deserves recognition. Frankly, its just as well there is no such tradition. If
that were so even the likes of Salman Farooqi would have had a few cul de sacs in Islamabad named
after them. For the benefit of those who have not heard of Salman, in his very last incarnation Salman
Farooqi was the secretary general to the president (Zardari) and, it has to be said, the duo worked hard to
rectify the mistake that the civil service should comprise men of integrity.
One civil servant who died (March 2013) relatively unnoticed was Ijlal Haider Zaidi. Zaidi had a legion of
admirers and, I suspect, as many, if not more, detractors. I was among the former group but not for the
usual reasons.
I admired Ijlal Zaidi for his Houdini-like skills. A close adviser and an unabashed admirer of Ziaul Haq, Ijal
Zaidi nevertheless managed to gain entry to the inner sanctum of Benazir Bhuttos advisers. No mean
feat, considering her father had been murdered by Zia; and as Zias defence secretary and then
establishment secretary, Ijlal Zaidi was a vital cog in the dictators administrative wheel. How did Zaidi do
it? And what persuaded BB to choose him as a key (domestic affairs) adviser?
Well, it wasnt all Zaidis wizardry. The fact is that BB had a grudging respect for former adversaries; and if
they were prepared to eat crow and work for her she was more than happy to take them on board. In fact,
the greater their seeming discomfiture, and the U-turn they were required to make, the more BB relished
having them at her beck and call.

Nor did BB have qualms about their loyalty. If my vessel develops leaks they will again jump ship, so
what? Meanwhile, she would use their proven talents to help pick her way through the myriad shoals of
Pakistani politics.
Of course, it helped that Ijlal Zaidi was the epitome of what a civil servant should be: he understood more
than he ever let on; he was courteous, metaphorical, allusive and vague and slippery when he needed to
be. He weighed his words carefully, never raised his voice, measured his gestures and let nothing upset
him.
As Ijlal Zaidi went up the civil service ladder he acquired a good reputation, but not so good as to frighten
others. He accumulated good postings (DG, Radio Pakistan) but again not so good as to provoke envy
until, of course, he hit the heights under Zia but by then he was beyond the range of the guns of his peers.
Zaidis aims were to float, prosper and wield power. He did all three. If he had one failing it was the
difference between his personal thoughts and his beliefs and the advice he proffered. But he was not
really surprised or bothered by the discrepancy; he placidly accepted it as one of the facts of life. He never
allowed his private intimate convictions to interfere with the business at hand. He was, for instance, not a
man to approve of tyrants but he went on to perform all the tasks Zia set him very conscientiously.
I recall on one occasion, when BB and I disagreed, she asked me to consult Zaidi and get back to her.
But, Prime Minister, I remarked spontaneously, hell only tell me what you feel. BB smiled and said,
Well, then we, and not you, would be right.
On another occasion, thinking I would be able to draw him to my side, I complained to Zaidi that Pakistan
was paying a heavy price for BBs forbearance and she should insist that her instructions not to take sides
in the civil war in Afghanistan had to be followed. I showed him the note I was about to send BB on the
subject.
Zaidi went through it carefully and asked only one question: What makes you think she wants to be
obeyed?
You mean, I said, shes given up trying to control foreign policy.
Zaidi merely smiled and said nothing. He had hit the nail on its head. He had seen the resistance in the
fauj to some of BBs moves and realised that so had BB; and that she too had sensed it would be
foolhardy to resist.
Whatever society may say or think about bureaucrats, the fact remains they have a key role in our polity. It
is the bureaucrats who classify and authorise; the people whose stamp and signature is vital for survival.
You cannot live without them and if they are upset or feel so inclined they can, in the words of an English
peer, create a difficulty for every solution.
Its best, therefore, that you accept the way that they work. Or else the bureaucratic system can, of
course, mistakenly kill you. Its nothing sinister simply the usual gremlins within the system. However, it
can be a serious disadvantage if, like me, you are expecting to receive a pension but are listed as dead.

Our malfunctioning bureaucracy has the advantage of making thousands of dead electors making their
posthumous opinions felt. The results in the recent elections in Karachi reflected this phenomenon, giving
one devoted son hope when told that his dead father had personally come to vote for the MQM candidate
in halka 250.
More seriously though, there are three distinguishing features about bureaucracy in Pakistan today, and
all are bad.
First, the tendencies of our political leaders, who are mostly tycoons, to incorporate the state into their
business empires, as a result bureaucrats are considered their personal and not public servants. Second,
business and criminal elements have become institutionally entwined with the bureaucracy and together
they have become instrumental in transforming Pakistan into a vast kleptocracy.
Finally, whenever an expansion in the bureaucracy takes place it is not to provide additional services to
the public but only to provide jobs and increase the size of the ruling partys grateful clientele. Hyderabad
has scores of educated street cleaners belonging to one political party. The trouble is that they dont turn
up for work, but they do utilise the perks government service provides.
The writer is a former ambassador