A toddler learning to walk would eagerly cling to his parent’s hand in the hope of saving himself from falling on his face. However, when this same dependency behavior begins to manifest among docile bureaucrats and paternalistic politicians, each and every decision of state institutions would be spoon-fed by those in power.
According to Salman Abid, visiting professor and public policy advisor at Punjab University, a centralized governance model was followed in Punjab in 2024. “Most of the issues, especially the appointment of bureaucrats, were being managed by the federal government as per its will and intention, although after the 18th Amendment, the provinces should be autonomous in making their own decisions, it seems to be has taken away their administrative power largely due to doubts about the current government’s mandate,” Abid opined.
Abid believed that since Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has been Chief Minister of Punjab several times, the bureaucracy routinely turned to him while taking big decisions, allowing him to exert his influence in Punjab.
“The current system will not ensure transparency or improve governance, but will only create more distortion in administrative and governance issues. It is better to run the system in the same way as it is administered in other provinces, but it seems that the federation has established its supremacy keeping the affairs of Punjab under their control,” Abid opined.
Although Punjab has a policy specifying that officials holding one or two key posts must be relocated every year, this record was broken in 2024. According to details obtained by the Express PAkGazette, the bureaucratic system formed during the tenure of the caretaker government, whose sole task was to hold elections, comprised almost three-quarters of the civil administration, giving the impression that the new government was a mere continuation of the provisional regime, with no vision or policy of its own.
Of the more than 5,000 officials and bureaucrats in Punjab, only 24 per cent were changed, of which 15 per cent only had their seats changed, while nine per cent were transferred. Therefore, in the history of the province, this is the first time that the new government has failed to replace officials in the bureaucracy, including in key positions, IG Punjab Police, Lahore CCPO and respective commissioners. of Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan. , Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur.
Furthermore, the “tsunami” of bureaucratic transfers based on abstracts continued strongly until the last week of December. Apart from this, gender discrimination against women emerged as a major issue plaguing the bureaucracy as female officials were transferred for subjective reasons and the quota allocated for them was also not met.
Rabia Bajwa, vice-president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, felt that the current government had not been able to come up with a single policy over the past year that could be termed as “women-friendly”. “Appointing only a few influential women to advisory positions is a cosmetic measure. Until the government implements policies to empower women from ordinary families, no real change can be expected. When a woman takes charge of the government , it becomes imperative to “Be aware of complaints of gender discrimination and ensure that women’s issues are addressed in accordance with the law,” Bajwa said.
“Women should have been given equal employment opportunities in the field. Appointing a woman as a district police officer was supposed to improve the policing process. The government faced many difficulties last year to improve governance in the province, for which an open-door policy was implemented. “It was also introduced,” said former IG Punjab police officer Ahmed Naseem.
Provincial Information Minister Uzma Bukhari reported that the Punjab Chief Minister had introduced 86 public relief projects within a few months of assuming office. “The CM has made criteria to check the performance of officers,” Bukhari said.
