0
IT is not every day that a federal minister accuses his own country’s bureaucracy of buying property in Europe — with black money. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently did just that — asserting that over half the bureaucracy owns property in Portugal and is ready to run away. Federal ministers throwing their own team under the bus is nothing new in Pakistan. Something similar was witnessed in 2020 by the then aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, when he alleged that over 150 pilots of the national flag carrier had fake licences. This disclosure — later found to be inaccurate — resulted in a ban on PIA’s flying to destinations in Europe, which took a long time to be lifted.
Mr Asif’s recent post has unnecessarily dragged the bureaucratic community — already low on morale — into the spotlight. In a profession where accusations tend to stick longer than promotions, being tarred with the same brush as a few shady fellow bureaucrats is no small matter. Particularly not when it is done by someone in the cabinet room. And yet, amid all the noise made by the ‘judge, jury and executioner’ mindset, as evident on social media, the question lingers: was he entirely wrong?
The honest response, if one is willing to listen past the noise, would be: not entirely. There are indeed some in public service who have allegedly amassed wealth that their payslips cannot explain. Some are believed to have quietly invested abroad, under the names of relatives or through real estate proxies. The Portuguese Golden Visa programme has certainly had its share of Pakistani applicants — not just bureaucrats but also businessmen, politicians and others who understand that visas are the new currency of certainty in an uncertain country.
But the real issue here isn’t just whether some bureaucrats own property abroad. It’s about the optics, timing and consequences of making such a sweeping statement in public. A senior cabinet member alleging that over half of Pakistan’s senior bureaucracy has exported unaccounted for wealth to Europe is not the kind of headline you want floating around while Pakistan and US officials are in talks to finalise the finer details of a trade deal that includes investment.
To paint the majority of bureaucrats as corrupt is unfair.
What makes the situation even more curious is the accompanying anecdote he shared about a top bureaucrat linked to a former PTI chief minister allegedly receiving Rs4 billion in ‘salami’ — ceremonial wedding gifts. Whether or not the story is true (and Mr Asif offered no proof), it plays into a growing public perception that the bureaucracy is not just complicit in corruption, but celebrated for it. Rs4bn is not the kind of money that one should only tweet about; all hell should break loose. It would not be wrong to assume that the minister may have wanted to deflect criticism intended for him or his government by trying to project someone else — the bureaucracy in this case — in an even more negative light.
Pakistan’s bureaucracy, for all its faults, is still the only permanent organ of state. Ministers come and go. Cabinets are reshuffled. But files are moved, summaries are cleared, and policies implemented — or quietly buried — by the bureaucracy. To paint the majority as corrupt — or worse, foreign-bound fugitives in waiting — is not just unfair, it is also institutionally self-destructive.
If the government believes the bureaucracy is compromised, it should take action. Strengthen asset declaration requirements. Institute lateral accountability. Use data. And do not resort to drama. The public expects ministers to talk less and govern more. The bureaucracy expects to be held accountable for its actions and not just thrown under the bus without consequences. I wonder if the minister — as candid as he has tried to portray himself to be with such statements from time to time — can issue a similar statement about former military men who decided to live outside Pakistan post-retirement and, in some cases, post-conviction. The late Mansurul Haq and Pervez Musharraf come to mind. If the minister digs deep enough, he may find other examples too, but by that time he might have dug a deeper hole for himself.
Lastly, the prime minister — if he finds enough time to say something other than praising President Donald Trump for one thing or the other on social media — needs to demand an explanation from his minister and tell him to take back his allegations.
This is important to ensure that this blame game for two minutes of fame at the cost of the morale of many working diligently to run the government does not become a trend. Would the prime minister do that for an institution that is not part of the establishment is the question.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2025
