Khwaja Asif's revelation about the bureaucrats swindling billions, Ahsan Iqbal's thesis that the existing governance model is unworkable, and Mohsin Naqvi's assertion about the collapse of the system remind me of a poem.

The sky is falling down

Just take a good look around you (Around you)

You can't hide underground

It's happening now (Now)

The sky is falling down.

With that mentioned, the obvious question here is: why?

I agree with the three government representatives to the extent that the system has failed to deliver. However, one of the major causes remains unexplained: the inertia, insulation, and the indifferent and unresponsive attitude of civil servants toward public problems.

With independence, hopes for a better future were shattered when the administrative culture continued to function on the colonial pattern of control (afsar-shahi) rather than service (naukar-shahi). Senior officials generally prefer to maintain distance from ordinary citizens, and access to them is restricted by layers of protocol and staff. Consequently, we have a bureaucracy that often looks upwards rather than outwards.

During my 32 years in public service, and more importantly, during my experience as an ordinary citizen since my retirement in 2018, I have observed more or less the same behaviour among civil servants regardless of whether they are a cousin, a relative, a friend, or otherwise. Exceptions, however, do exist. There are many competent and conscientious officers, but the institutional culture remains deeply problematic.

In this typical hierarchical culture, the boss........

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