Civil bureaucracy is the administrative backbone of any country. It is the permanent and professional offshoot of any government, which is responsible for bringing the government’s policies into action and serving the public while managing the day-to-day administration of the state. The civil services of Pakistan also play such a significant role in our country. Civil servants ensure the continuity of the state by upholding law and order, implementing developmental projects, and executing public schemes. However, despite their vital role, the civil bureaucracy has attracted widespread criticism for politicization, inefficiency, malpractices, lack of transparency, and its elitist nature.

All these drawbacks in the system have contributed to weakening the state’s institutional capacity and eroding public trust in state machinery. With technological advancement, rising public demands, and a population boom in the country, the current system has proved inadequate to meet the needs of the changing times; therefore, it is imperative to consider structural and administrative reforms in civil bureaucracy to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Historically, Pakistan has inherited the administrative framework from the British Colonial Administration, which was then called the Indian Civil Services (ICS) and was acknowledged for its professionalism, discipline, and efficiency. During the initial period of formation of Pakistan, bureaucracy played a central role in maintaining stability. Nonetheless, the system had many structural strengths, but it was designed for specific political purposes before the partition and continued to do so when the bureaucracy was politicized during civil and military rule.

Interestingly, successive governments launched numerous reform initiatives for the........

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