Any civil service reform in Pakistan is doomed to fail unless Prime Minister Imran Khan understands the problems in the current system from the youth’s perspective. Seasoned bureaucrats, although experienced, cannot understand the problems that the youth face – the distress and trauma that they go through after completing degrees.
The PTI used to criticise PML-N for having ‘aged politicians’, playing the key role in the decision-making process. But it is no different from its predecessor on this front. Where is the change?
The party whose leaders claimed to create five million jobs before the elections now seems to be backing off from this pledge. Indeed, the PTI’s voters and supporters are unable to make sense out of this. Some are feeling betrayed while others are still trying to defend the party leadership with their illogical explanations. No doubt, the past governments added to the miseries of the nation but PTI had claimed that they possessed the formula to reverse this.
But the situation is not as rosy as the PTI had promised. Its show boy, Asad Umar, a successful person in his professional career, succumbed to invisible pressures earlier this month and resigned as finance minister. Will the claims he made come to fruition?
The ruling party replaced him with Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh who has previously held the same portfolio under the PPP government. The PTI has been bashing the PPP for a long time. And now the PPP’s finance minister is handling PTI’s finance ministry. Nothing can be more confusing for a supporter.
Imran Khan formed Civil Service Reforms Committee some six month ago. The committee recently presented its report. Evidently, it did not like ‘superior’ in the Civil Superior Service and stressed upon introducing cluster-based exams in which groups are allocated in accordance with the educational background of the aspirants. Would it fix the situation?
In my opinion, changing the name won’t change anything; it is same as changing police uniform without focusing on their character building and ethical training, which should have been at the heart of the reform. Youth need more job opportunities. Public and private testing services are minting money and have devised their strategies around revenue generation. While what we are focusing on is a name change.
Take for instance Hailey College, one of the oldest institutions of Pakistan. Hundreds of students graduate from this college each year. Private and public sectors have failed in catering to their needs.
The youth want Imran Khan to take a stance with clarity. Young men and women belonging to poor and middle classes have degrees in their hands but no jobs. They lack financial resources and are looking for the change that was supposed to improve their living standard.
No matter what strategy is formed, the main thing is to adopt merit and do justice with every aspirant, setting aside his/her background. The affluent are still able to do corruption and find political shelter. Impartial justice is yet to be ensured. The menace of corruption can be eradicated once justice is done without any prejudice. Corruption in any form will never let the poor and middle classes compete with the rich who in most cases freely use their influence and financial muscle to subvert the justice. It was eradication of corruption for which the nation, especially the youngsters, voted for Imran Khan. Only merit can do justice to the talents of our youth and help the PTI fix the system.