Re: Former FPSC Chief alleges abuse of power by PM
The reason for Kiani’s resignation comes out more proof of nepotism in Mushs government
Fawning flunkies and clowns to perform better?
Ansar Abbasi
An ex-serviceman, who became conspicuous for meeting head-on the mighty and powerful in the present set-up to uphold rule of law and merit, has made his unceremonious departure from his civilian assignment on March 30. He had refused to dance to the tunes of the rulers and remained determined and steadfast to go by the law. Instead of settling for a compromise he preferred to go down fighting.
Lt Gen (r) Jamshed Gulzar Kiani has left his mark both as chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) and head of the high-powered Central Selection Board (CSB). He joined the office three years back amid apprehensions that because of his soldiering background, he would mess up things for the bureaucracy for being oblivious of the civil service matters.
But now he has left amid general acknowledgement within the bureaucratic circles that Kiani is perhaps one of the best chairmen FPSC produced during the last 59 years. He was offered the job in 2003 by no less than President General Musharraf himself when the former was in uniform and had more than eight months of service left as lieutenant general. On March 31, 2003 he took the oath of his present office for a fixed tenure of five years as provided under the law at that time. But Kiani’s performance later led to a cut in his tenure from five to three years through a presidential ordinance. His crime was that he upheld merit without any fear or favour. The unexpected slash in the term of FPSC members last August also led to the immediate retirement of four of them.
To understand as to how things went wrong for the chairman and why the government reduced his tenure, which was earlier introduced by President Musharraf as part of his civil services reforms, one needs to look into Kiani’s “crime list”.
Kiani’s faith on merit was tested in the very first meeting of the CSB that he had chaired within a couple of months of his taking over as Chairman FPSC. Promotion cases of two high profile bureaucrats – one a friend of the then prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, police officer Malik Habib Khan, and the second of a senior official of the presidency, the incumbent secretary to the president Mohsin Hafeez – were coming up before the CSB for consideration for promotion to BS-21.
In an earlier Establishment Division (ED) briefing, Jamali had asked the then Secretary ED Javed Hasan Aly to immediately convene the meeting of the CSB for police promotions so that Habib Khan could be elevated to BS-21. Similarly prior to the CSB meeting, the same prime minister, following a request from the presidency, had exempted Hafeez from the staff college course, which is otherwise mandatory for BS-21 promotions, and ordered that the officer be considered for promotion in the next CSB meeting. When the CSB met under the new chairman, it deferred Hafeez’s case – despite his excellent career profile – for not fulfilling the basic criterion set for promotion. The chairman told the meeting that the promotion criterion could not be relaxed for one officer.
On the other hand, Habib Khan was recommended for supersession. When the CSB recommendations were forwarded to the prime minister for approval, Jamali in disregard to the recommendations of the CSB, promoted a few officers including Habib Khan and Habibullah Khan Niazi, another PSP officer who was also recommended for supersession. When the chairman learnt this, he wrote a protest note to the government.
Later a much more serious promotion controversy made headlines when the incumbent Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, while dropping out two police officers recommended by the CSB for promotion as DIGs, approved two others including one Zafar Lak, who was deferred by the CSB for facing a NAB inquiry while the other, Zafar Ahmad Qureshi was never considered as he was low on the seniority list. The chairman yet again protested and wrote a letter to the president, conveying that such promotions were a clear violation of law and negation of merit. Lak was closely related to the Chaudhrys of Gujrat whereas Qureshi was the brother of PML MNA Mazhar Qureshi and Secretary Food Ismail Qureshi. The chairman also met the prime minister to convey that the disputed promotions were a mockery of the system and the law.
The controversy over these promotions finally led to the cancellation of Qureshi’s promotion order. Interestingly, later, the CSB again met after several months and recommended Qureshi’s promotion, which was approved by the prime minister. However, despite the lapse of several months, the officer’s promotion has not yet been notified. His MNA brother’s decision of siding with the PML forward bloc is now denying him his due right of elevation.
General Jamshed Gulzar also invited the wrath of the rulers for not issuing **NoC for extensions in the tenure of retired military officers, occupying civil posts. When the government referred the cases of DG Post Office Major General (r) Agha Masood and DG Federal Education Directorate Maqsoodul Hasan, to the FPSC for NoC, the commission not only opposed the recommended extension but also **questioned the legality of their previous extensions, which were extended without the consent of the commission. The government, however, ignored the FPSC’s opposition and repeatedly granted extensions to these officers.
The FPSC chairman reflected these serious violations in case of ex-servicemen’s extensions in the commission’s annual report. The presidency did not approve the report, as the chairman was never willing to delete its objectionable parts. Under the law, the FPSC annual report is to be presented before the parliament every year after it is approved by the president. However, the 2003 annual report has not yet been presented before the parliament.
General Kiani also opposed, tooth and nail, the government’s decision to withdraw from the commission’s purview the BS-11 to BS-15 posts. These posts were withdrawn by the Jamali cabinet in its first meeting after the government MNAs demanded that they should be given quota in government jobs.
The chairman objected to appointments in the ISI, which were being made without the involvement of the FPSC.
It goes to the incumbent chairman’s credit that he has streamlined the promotion system for the civil bureaucracy and earned kudos from all and sundry in the bureaucracy. Previously, the CSB had been meeting abruptly for promotion of selected blue-eyed boys. There were instances when these boards had met only to consider one single case of promotion as sought by the rulers. But this chairman did not allow this to happen.
The irony is that the powers that be don’t approve of such men. They need the fawning flunkies and clowns who should serve as rubber stamps and should only be adept at saying, “Yes boss!”
The writer is bureau chief of The News in Islamabad
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