On Tuesday, 10^th September, 2024, Mr. Amjad Mahmood was invited to give talk on the subject topic at National Institute of Management, Lahore.

The speaker elaborated on how government business is organized and issues/challenges faced. He told participants that public policy entails conducting government affairs at local, provincial and national levels. According to him, a civil servant, as a public policy manager, should try to find solutions to problems faced while conducting public policy matters. He told the participants that the public policy managers operate in both international and national contexts. However, in Pakistan, the State affairs seem in disarray as large part of the government seems dysfunctional. The citizens of Pakistan are highly dissatisfied with the way the government is functioning in delivery of goods and services to the public. Unfortunately, in the last 35 years, we have been going from bad to worse. He compared Pakistan with countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia, France and Japan which are doing well despite having similar structures, policies and practices.

The speaker told the participants about Woodrow Wilson’s Dichotomy of Power Principle i.e. political and administrative spheres are different and separate, therefore, different functionaries are carrying out their respective functions in their own domains. In Pakistan, the President represents the State and the Prime Minister is the elected Chief Executive; while civil servants are unelected executives.

The speaker pinpointed that Article 240 and Article 260 elaborate the civil servants’ working and their terms and conditions. He further discussed various Articles highlighting the role and functioning of Federal and Provincial Governments.

At the end, he emphasized the need for quality and consistency in running the State affairs as both political and administrative leaderships are nose diving in this country. He also reiterated that civil servants must build their personal and professional capacities (KSA: Knowledge, skills and attitude) to avoid becoming irrelevant and burned out with the passage of time. At the end, he advised the civil servants to enhance their competencies through working in executive policy positions in international organization and, subsequently, sharing their attained knowledge, skills and experience to better serve Pakistan.