Myths and Realities -- CSS Examination

The upper house of parliament recently passed a resolution to allow aspirants of Central Superior Services (CSS) to take examinations in Urdu as well alongside with English, though the resolution is adopted in favor 0f Urdu . Senator Siraj ul Haq referred Article 251 of the Constitution, which clearly directed to implement Urdu language as official language, however, the decision could not be implemented even after 45 years. The principal argument in the favor of Urdu , is the example given those of the developed countries, including China, Japan, France, Germany, Korea and others, as they achieved success by using their own language as an official entity. The counter argument , as envisaged by Senator Sussi Palejo, highlighted that English is an international language and spoken all over the world. PTI members also supported in favour of English, personified FPSC’s inability to implement the contents of the Resolution in haste. Urdu is supposed to be an official language in the government sector by 1999, as per the Constitution of Pakistan, but unfortunately, the constitutional obligation is yet to be fulfilled.  

It is not the first time that Dr Ishrat Hussain has been given the Task to reform the Civil Bureaucracy of the county.  Earlier, he was given the similar  task in 2011, but his proposals were not implemented as those did not attract the legislators; though Dr Ishrat termed the then CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif as a “role model for the Chief Ministers of other provinces — a hard act to follow,” in his book “Governing the Ungovernable”.  The bent of mind is exposed as that of typical bureaucratic mind-set to serve the current ‘Political Lord’. The role Model of Dr Ishrat Hussain is currently facing severe corruption and mal-governance charges.

The resignation of Mr Tariq Khosa PSP (who is the elder brother of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, and former Chief Secretary and Principal Secretay to  PM, Mr Nasir Khosa),  from Dr Ishrat’s Task Force is being seen as a protest against the federal government’s move to exclude the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) from the civil services examination. He maintained, “In my view, excluding police from the common civil service exam is a dangerous move toward bureaucratic elite capture,”. He opined,  ‘’he had a great respect for Dr Ishrat Hussain (the task force head) and adviser to the prime minister Arbab Shahzad. However, in meetings of Task Force on Civil Service Reforms and Government Restructuring, I begged to differ about creating a separate service stream of police,” he maintained.

“Policing, unlike military, is not a force. It is a management and service delivery instrument. Unlike in India where the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) are inducted through one central examination, we are venturing into an area which will have impact on the federation,” Mr Khosa orchestrated.

He said the police would be marginalised to initially a provincial service and eventually a local government institution as is the case in the US. He suggested that the Pakistan police should remain part of the general administration group.

“The Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) should accept us as part of a policy delivery mechanism. We should be inducted through one common examination as is being done now,” he said. “I had to resign from Task Force on account of principles, otherwise I would have continued to oppose this move,” he said.

 The scribe has interviewed number of CSS Aspirants to get their first hand reaction and opinion. Majority of them are confused as they maintained that the rumors to make many Post- Graduate Degree-holders of variety of subjects, are being declared as ineligible for CSS Examination.  Majority of the Aspirants are too vocal on the Induction system of FPSC. “ A Bachelor can be a PAS officer , while a Phd in the relevant subject can be declared as unsuccessful . Miss Javeria Maqbool, the topper of CSS Examination of 2014, failed the written examination of CSS 2015. She failed in Essay. She appeared in exam without knowing her final fate in allocation list in 2014 hence her failure would have no impact on her and rightly so.

The person, who topped the examination, is declared as fail in the very next examination, orchestrated, how inconsistent, unpredictable and inefficient organization FPSC. The main crush of CSS Aspirants are PAS and PSP groups followed by Foreign Services , Customs and Inland Revenue Groups. Rest of the groups are not that attractive in the eyes of Aspirants. There are many examples that students who failed in a subject , got far better marks in next appearance , but failed in other subject, in which, he or she got even 70% plus, earlier.  In some cases many Aspirants got the total numbers far better than the topper , but failed in any subject with one or two marks .

Why not, the first top ten papers of all the subjects are made available on the FPSC website?? Aspirants must know , how the marking system is deciding the fate and future of them, besides getting the first hand knowledge of the  content of all top papers . The marking system of the top papers will also expose the worth of the examiners and the respective paper-checkers.

Every year almost 96 to 97 % aspirants fail in the written portion of CSS examination. Once GC Lahore ( now University) is termed as one of the best institution for CSS breed .

Majority of the CSS officers, from first CTP to 15 CTP have directly or indirectly influenced by the institution or its faculty members . Now it is very rare to see such entrants in Civil Service. The huge rate of failure in the top competitive examination, depicts the glaring flaws in our college/university education system , where students are devoid of professional counseling and moral encouragement by their illiterate or less literate ( in most of the cases) parents. When this stuff from university lands in the talent-hunt apparatus--- both are exposed.

Since decades students are asked to become proficient in English Language . Students, even at University Level, are not imparted ‘the creativity and innovation’ . Students are supposed to read Pakistani newspapers, especially the respective editorials; but, as believed, some editorials are not in the line of the state policies as their media owners are allegedly pursuing their own agendas, so students get confused in getting the qualitative input sources.    Most of the students prefer cramming in semester-based degrees. They are mostly prone to the whims of their teachers , who themselves are not tuned to meet the requirements to impart qualitative knowledge. We can’t find literary wizards , like those of  Altaf Gohar, Qudrat ullah Shahab , Javed Qureshi, Perveen Shakir, Mustafa Zaidi etc in the present  bureaucratic lot or even in aspirants . I was shocked , during an interaction with the students an University; when it was revealed that the majority of  them didn’t know that Perveen Shakir belonged to Customs Group.

The Literature is discouraged to take as an optional subject. A dean of English Department of an University confided  me that he hardly suggests any aspirant to opt literature as subject , “as if  William Shakespeare may appear in the paper of English Literature In CSS Examination  , he will hardly get 40 to 45% marks, due to traditional tough marking standards since decades. “Everybody  can’t be Perveen Shakir , who opted Urdu Literature and responded to the questions related to her own poetry as an emerging poetess”. He viewed.

Do Power , money and authority make the aspirants to go beyond any legal way to achieve their “Golden Goal”? In 2013, the young, educated aspirants of the CSS exam have managed to steal their answer sheets with the help of post office officials in Faisalabad and then returned the same by correctly solving their papers in a bid to pass the exam. This unique scandal of the country’s history has jolted the Federal Public Service Commission and created doubts about the fairness and credibility of the most-cherished competitive exam in the country — the CSS competition. In 2017, FIA arrested Muhammad Arif Khan from Faisalabad, who was operating a fake Facebook account in the name of Sadia Kausar, who  appeared almost 17 times, before FPSC, including three CSS attempts, as a candidate against various posts.

However, he could not qualify in any of these attempts. Such repeated failures infuriated him to an extent that he, in order to avenge his failure, undertook cyber crime against FPSC. On the other side of the story , FPSC didnt inquire into the matter of a guy, whose guess work was too authentic, what is the principal cause of his failure in 17 attempts of FPSC’s various exams. In recent CSS Exam 2019,

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 3 individuals, including two government officers for leaking CSS exam papers.  FIA conducted a raid in Lahore’s Kacha Lines Road on basis of information and arrested excise and taxation officer, Syed Tajjamul Hussain Naqvi, who was reportedly part of the gang which leaked CSS exam papers. Another suspect, identified as Engineer Bilal Shehzad Sial was arrested after Naqvi’s mobile phone was examined. The arrested suspects have indicated the involvement of Federal Public Service Commission Balochistan’s Assistant Director, Khalid Hussain Mugheri; Punjab jail department’s assistant superintendent, Owais Sharif, and Multan regional tax office inspector, Sajjad, during the investigation.

The suspects leaked exam questions via WhatsApp to students in return of hundreds of thousands of rupees, the FIA said. Recently, Rs 980,000 was also sent to Mugheri’s bank account in Multan through Sajjad and raids are being conducted to arrest Mugheri. The secrecy system of CSS is exposed . God forbid if a situation may arise similar to that of examinations , which are held in Sindh, where almost all examiners allow the use of cell phones, guides , notes etc in the examination halls, while centers are sold.

With the changing scenario of the world, FPSC and the public policy managers in the government sector must tune to new standards.  The Civil Service has defined itself as the ‘basic wheels on which the entire engine of the ‘state vehicle’  is supposed to run. In the age of Hybrid or Fifth generation War, while our principal strategists either slow down the process of reformation with a required pragmatism or they still follow the colonial approach to run the affairs of state machinery , ignoring the  modern day political challenges faced by Pakistan.

Reportedly, the proposed Civil Services will be divided into four-tier system, i.e., All Pakistan service, Federal service, Provincial service and District service.

Pakistan Administrative Services and Police Services of Pakistan will come under All-Pakistan civil service. while Federal Services includes Foreign Services of Pakistan, Pakistan Customs Services, Pakistan Revenue Services, Pakistan Audit and Accounts Services, Military Land and Cantonment Services and Technical Services will come under Federal Government. Group specific examinations will be conducted. The Provincial Services include Provincial Management Services, Provincial Civil Services, Provincial Technical Services and Provincial Judicial Services ( But is yet to define how will high courts react to this proposal). Simultaneously, the District Services include District based technical services, agricultural services, health services, educational and taxation services will be introduced. DHA/RHA at district health system is the example and pre-requisite for this.

It is also believed that Pakistan Railways will be made Federal department while, Pakistan Postal, and Commerce and Trade Groups will be abolished. Postal service will be devolved to compete with private sector. And for CTG Commerce and Trade Group, the group will be abolished and Trade Development Authority Board (TDAB) will be formed. TDAB will recruit their own professionals as per their need and availability of funds basis.

Apparently, as the proposed structural reforms revealed, the Old DMG or present PAS seems to be dominated by Pakistan Civil Service followed by Police Service . Now the proposed structural reforms lead to 4 classes of civil services. So far no strategy has been evolved under which the equality of promotion criteria can be maintained in all 4 tiers- Nor the role of officers from Pakistan Civil Service in the other provincial and District services , is defined yet. It is yet to clarify, who will be the professionals, those may conduct the Screening examination followed by General examination then the Group Specific examination and Psychological evaluation, followed by an Interview and allocation. Who will judge the clarity of perception within a candidate, professional tendency, analytical writing skills and aptitude?. If the same FPSC selectors may go for new bureaucrats then the similar lot of policy-makers will emerge , as we witness today.   Reportedly, as it is proposed that all the respective tiers of civil service will be depoliticized, but who will give this guarantee? Is there be any proposal of inbuilt mechanism that the civil service may remain apolitical?? This can’t be happened till the legislators themselves bring the political reforms within their political parties and in the governance system of the state.  So it is still an uphill task to introduce a reforms , which needs answers to multiple questions. 

 I think FPSC must devise its strategy to rethink the whole procedure of Induction of young bureaucrats , training and their deployment in the respective fields/ departments.  The International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) Index is the first comprehensive index of international indicators of civil service effectiveness. It aims to assess the performance of central civil services around the world. In effective civil service can play an important role in determining a country’s progress and prosperity, and the InCiSE Index’s core objective is to help countries determine how their central civil services are performing, and to learn from each other.

The InCiSE Index can be used:

• as a performance improvement tool for civil service leaders to find out which countries perform best in which areas and learn from them;
• as an accountability tool which allows citizens, government officials and politicians to find out how well their civil service is performing.

We recognise the important role central civil services can play in determining a country’s progress and prosperity, and our priority is to secure long-term funding to enable the InCiSE project to expand further. We see the InCiSE Index as a learning and performance improvement tool for governments around the world, and the goal is to produce it on a regular basis and to increase country coverage while maintaining data quality. FPSC  must get benefit from the InCiSE to reform Civil Service of Pakistan and  monitor the performance of the bureaucrats as per the standards of InCISE, which is at the surface is not touched yet.  

The writer is an Islamabad-based Analyst, Consultant of Public Policy and Civil Service. Also heading an Organisation Journalists for International Peace. He can be approached by email president@j4ip.org