Red tape: Bureaucrat’s lament about his ilk

Book mentions writer’s experiences and observations while working with bureaucracy.

ISLAMABAD:

Though a shadow of its past, still bureaucracy is a reminder of the colonial past and acts as a hurdle than a supporting function of the state. People need to rise against this to demand for a socially-just society.

This was the consensus at the launch of Uxi Mufti’s book “Kaghaz ka Ghora” (paper horse) where all the panellists termed the role of bureaucracy as detrimental and called for a change.



The launch was organised by Pakistan Literary Forum in collaboration with the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) here on Thursday.

Broadcaster Agha Nasir said Islamabad is a “city of babus where even graveyards are divided on the basis of grades.”

Mufti is son of the acclaimed fiction-writer Mumtaz Mufti and has penned a book entitled “Talash”. A well-respected folklorist and administrator, he remained head of Lok Virsa for a long time.

Poet Sarwat Mohiyuddin said that the book laments about the ever-sharpening divisions in the society on religious, ethnic and sectarian grounds. She said “diversity is empowering if all are treated on the basis of equality.”

“Let’s accept this that we are a culturally diverse country where our God and religion is one but we are not one society.”

Academic Jalil Aali said that the book is the writer’s memoir and interaction with the bureaucracy over a forty year career.

He said the chapters like Culture Vulture, Snake and Ladder, Cart before the horse reflect the depth of his understanding of the institution. He further said the book highlights critical trends like “red tape, corruption, ignoring merit and jealousy,” he said.



Former ambassador Akram Zaki said British colonial rulers wanted a structure through which a few could control the populace.

Lord Macaulay had said in 1835 that he had visited all of the South Asian subcontinent and found the people as honest, prosperous hard-working who cannot be ruled unless the education system is changed.

He said the British along with the bureaucracy colluded with the feudal class and the clergy to keep the people subjugated.

Zaki said the “biggest damage was done when in 1973 four classes of bureaucracy were further divided into 22 grades. And a race for grades started there on.”

Mufti said he regretted how obstructive the bureaucracy had been throughout his career.

Poet Kishwar Naheed said Mufti worked like a “crazy person despite all odds.” He has done a good job but while reading I realised that “he has compromised at places where he could have named certain individuals.“

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2014.