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The writer is a former civil servant.
IMAGINE placing a goldfish in a bowl at the entrance of your home and thinking it would achieve the same results as expected of a bona fide watchman. Our expectation of Pakistan Administrative Service officers to keep an eye on the size of the naan, manage Ramazan Sasta bazars or negotiate with local prayer leaders on some religiously sensitive issue is no different.
The officers have neither trained for such jobs nor are they inclined to do them. They are not educated in public dealing during any of the professional trainings they literally waste their time on. These trainings touch upon subjects that mostly have little to no connection with their field. The majority of PAS trainees come from highly urban backgrounds having studied in the best universities in the country and even abroad. The trainings are focused on academics while the scholarships (eg Chevening, Fulbright, Australian Award) they get by virtue of being in service are sabbatica