Islands of privilege

Unemployment due to grave economic recession and poor governance has caused frustration and anger among the educated youth. Successive government policies, instead of addressing these issues have been captive to vested interests, rehiring retired civil or uniformed officers and judges making matters worse. Can anybody justify hiring retired paid state employees, receiving pension and other benefits, on contract while more qualified and educated youth with specialized professional qualifications and skills remain unemployed. This has contributed to brain drain, growing discontent and frustration. The acute economic crisis that Pakistan faces is testimony, if any is required, that unless the state employs highly qualified individuals who have specialized in economics, technology, medicine and science this country will not recover from the mess. The British Raj trained civil and uniformed bureaucracy was to run an occupied country, for the sole benefit of the Raj. In the UK, US etc the state employs the best qualified specialists at key assignments where policies are made, while civil service officers are confined to administrative posts only.

If Pakistan wants to develop, it must invest in the development and optimum utilization of talent to keep at pace with fast technological changes. Our civil service is outdated and not trained to serve people as public servants but have a decadent mindset for which they were trained by the Raj to serve as agents of the occupation forces. They continue to live in islands of prosperity in gated housing societies in palatial villas spread over acres, instead of modest houses at state expense, surrounded by a sea of people living in misery, denied even basic necessities like clean drinking water, with garbage dumps serving as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and an outdated sanitation system infected with polio virus, typhoid and blocked gutters. This is certainly not Jinnah’s Pakistan.

Ali Malik Tariq

Lahore