Editorial
There is something deeply obscene about the way Pakistan’s senior civil servants live. A provincial secretary in Punjab typically occupies a sprawling bungalow in GOR-1 spanning acres of prime public land, commands a fleet of government vehicles, draws tens of thousands of litres of subsidised petrol annually, holds a privileged membership at the Gymkhana Club, and moves through life wrapped in layers of protocol and orderly. This is not an exceptional case. It is the norm. Deputy commissioners, divisional heads, and scores of other officers across the provincial hierarchy live variations of the same story.
And yet, one-third of Punjab’s population cannot afford a decent meal, a functional school, or a hospital bed when illness strikes.
The question is not whether civil servants deserve a comfortable life. They do. Public service is demanding, and capable people must be attracted and retained. The question is whether this comfort should arrive through an opaque empire of perks, privileges, and state-funded luxuries that escape accountability entirely. The answer is plainly no.
Every privilege must be monetised. The official residence, the government car, the petrol quota, the club membership, the protocol staff: all of it must be converted into a transparent, taxable cash component of salary. Let the officer rent his own house, buy his own car, and pay his own club subscription. This single reform would save the provincial exchequer billions of rupees annually and strip away the feudal theatre that surrounds bureaucratic life.
But monetisation alone is not enough. Salary must be tied to performance. Officers must be assessed against measurable public outcomes, not seniority and political loyalty. Promotion, posting, and pay must follow results.
The provincial secretary is a public servant. It is time he was treated like one, and held to account like one.
The books by Republic Policy Think Tank, The Bureaucratic Coup, The books Fixing the Executive Branch of Government in Pakistan, Fixing the Legislative Branch of Government in Pakistan, and Fixing the Judicial Branch of Government in Pakistan are available at bookstores across Pakistan, particularly at Vanguard Books.
