Main Issues for Setting the Civil Service Reform Agenda in Pakistan (Report‪)‬

1. INTRODUCTION Civil service reform is not new to the development debate in Pakistan. The role of bureaucracy is discussed every now and then. Civil service reform is nowadays quite uniformly discussed as a major problem for development in Pakistan, or at least so it is considered. Most of the blame for policy and programme failures is assigned to the civil service. Recognising the importance, or persistence of the problem, governments over time have attempted to deal with the issue by setting up committees and commissions, many times in this paper I am presenting a discussion of some pre-eminent issues besetting the civil service in Pakistan in my view unless these issues are addressed at the outset no meaningful reform can be formulated or implemented. Addressing them is paramount for setting an agenda for the reform.