The renewed debate on restoring the executive magistracy system in Pakistan has sparked deep institutional friction within the civil services. While the proposal is presented as an administrative reform to enhance law and order, its roots lie in a long-standing bureaucratic struggle for dominance. The powerful federal PAS group—formerly known as the DMG—seeks this restoration primarily to bring the police once again under its administrative control and to limit the growing influence of provincial civil services.
Historically, the Deputy Commissioner served as the District Magistrate, enjoying both executive and judicial powers. The police operated under his command, ensuring a vertical bureaucratic hierarchy. However, the devolution reforms under General Musharraf’s local government system and the subsequent assertion of judicial independence dismantled that colonial-era structure. The police were separated from the district administration, creating professional autonomy that many in the bureaucracy still resent.
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Now, under the guise of administrative coordination, some bureaucratic quarters are lobbying for the revival of executive magistrates—ostensibly to improve governance but, in reality, to reestablish bureaucratic supremacy over the police. This would also marginalize provincial service officers and local government institutions, undermining the principles of administrative devolution introduced after the 18th Amendment.
The call for executive magistracy, therefore, is not about serving citizens but about reclaiming lost institutional authority. It represents the persistence of a colonial mindset where control takes precedence over collaboration, and bureaucracy remains unwilling to share power with either elected representatives or autonomous institutions. True reform must strengthen local governance, not revive outdated hierarchies that weaken democracy.
