Islamabad (Pakistan Khabar) Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that only the bureaucracy in Pakistan has remained protected from accountability and beyond the reach of the law.
In a statement posted on X, Khawaja Asif said that every section of Pakistan’s ruling elite had paid a price for its actions. He said action had been taken against the ruling elite over corruption, mismanagement and other allegations, but the bureaucracy alone remained protected from accountability and beyond scrutiny.
Khawaja Asif said that Pakistanis may hardly realise that bureaucrats have also ruled the country. Former Governor General Ghulam Muhammad was a bureaucrat, former Prime Minister Muhammad Ali was also a bureaucrat, while former presidents Iskander Mirza and Ghulam Ishaq Khan had also served as bureaucrats. According to him, all this happened during periods when, apparently, politicians were in power.
He further said that no one holds bureaucrats responsible. The incompetence and mutual differences of politicians provided the bureaucracy with space in political affairs. If politicians reform themselves, the process of reform and accountability within the bureaucracy will automatically begin.