Judiciary on trial

The widespread political turmoil in Pakistan at the cost of economic meltdown fringing on default has sucked in the judiciary in the fetid politics. Damn if you take up our cases and damn if you don’t is the axiom these days! The Supreme Court is the final arbiter in any democratic country, and making it controversial will erode the trust and confidence in the last bastion of dispute resolution. How wisely it was said by the famous American journalist, HL Mencken, who died in 1956: “Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.”

We inherited an efficient administration in 1947 and anyone having a thorough understanding of that system would agree with Sir Olaf Caroe that “the British built better than they knew.” Today that magnificent structure lies corrupted, mangled and demolished. To understand why administration has collapsed so completely we have to hark back to the time of the partition. Indeed, Pakistan made a perilous beginning. According to Gunnar Myrdal, “Few modern states started their independent existence on such tenuous basis and under severe initial difficulties as Pakistan.” Moreover, the partition had given rise to the largest migration that saw more than a million people consumed by a senseless carnage on both sides of the border. Under these nerve-wracking circumstances the Muslim League leadership was required to devise an entirely new administrative apparatus.

Pakistan inherited a little over 100 Muslim ICS officers, majority of them having entered the exclusive service on the crutches of quota. This strength was augmented by 36 British officers including 5 Secretaries to the government who had opted to serve Pakistan. Through fortuitous circumstances representation of Muslims in the Finance & Commerce group was larger as well as in somewhat higher echelons. Here the number of Muslim officers was 240 which constituted 15.9 per cent of the total strength before India was divided.

A month or two before the partition, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali submitted to the founding fathers an organisational plan of Pakistan envisioning 8 Ministries consisting of 18 Administrative Departments. At the same time he proposed that a post of Secretary General, hitherto unknown, may be created to coordinate the work of all other ministries. When the partition took place Chaudhry Sahab was appointed as Secretary General in addition to being the Cabinet Secretary, Establishment Secretary and Vice Chairman, Planning Board. It did not surprise anyone when the post of Secretary General was allowed to lapse on his becoming Finance Minister in October 1951. He went on to become the fourth Prime Minister of Pakistan. Unimaginable to put it rather mildly. Two other bureaucrats reached the pinnacle while the game of musical chair was going on in the fledgling state of Pakistan. Ghulam Muhammad became the third Governor General and continued his rule despite suffering from paralysis. Iskander Mirza became the fourth Governor General and then the first President when Ayub Khan finally deposed him in October 1958 and imposed the first martial law.

Politicisation of our services can be traced to the year 1946 when Chaudhry Muhammad Ali became unofficial Advisor of the Muslim League. He had done Masters in Science and the general perception of his being a financial expert is misplaced. That he had experience of working in the Finance Department was nothing unique. There were several Muslim officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service who were senior to him and were equally proficient in Finance. Zahid Husain who established the State Bank of Pakistan was 10 years senior to Chaudhary Muhammad Ali and at least two years senior to Ghulam Muhammad. He was the only recognised financial expert and economist. Zahid Hussain should have been picked as the first Finance Minister instead of the wily Ghulam Muhammad. Probably by design he was sidelined and initially posted as the first High Commissioner of Pakistan to India.

Chaudhary Muhammad Ali did not realise that his ad hoc and wayward policies would open the floodgates of bureaucratic shenanigans for the others also. Taking a cue from him Qudratullah Shahab redesignated himself as Secretary General Azad Kashmir. Aziz Ahmed became Deputy Martial Law Administrator and Secretary General during Ayub Khan’s rule. Going one step further Ghulam Ishaq Khan was appointed Secretary General in Chief, Ministry of Defence. Then there is a long list of civil servants distinguished for political connection rather than merit who wore the diadem of Secretary Generalship. Lateral entry introduced by ZA Bhutto to accommodate relatives, favourites and political workers, and his so-called reforms demolished whatever remained of the civil service.

Next general elections in Pakistan are just around the corner. It is time for the new government at the Centre and in the Provinces to make merit the cornerstone of governance and allow the judges to step back and do what they do best.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2022.

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