Government Plans New ‘Smart Civil Service’ to Improve Public Service

Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan’s current civil service system is “incapable of meeting modern challenges,” and revealed plans to introduce a new “smart civil service model” focused on performance, innovation, and technology-driven governance.

He made these remarks during the opening session of a three-day international conference titled “Local Realities and Regional Futures: Transforming Public Administration and Management in South Asia.” The event was organised by the Punjab University Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS) in collaboration with the South Asian Network for Public Administration (SANPA) at the Riazuddin Auditorium.

Speaking at the conference, Ahsan Iqbal said governance in the modern world requires expertise, accountability, and digital transformation. “The era of generalist skills is over,” he remarked. “Pakistan now needs a results-oriented civil service that rewards merit, values innovation, and remains committed to public service.”

He added that under the new model, recruitment and training will align with professional qualifications, while promotions will depend on performance, leadership, and learning ability.

The minister also proposed that Punjab University create ‘public policy labs’ to enable collaboration between students and policymakers on practical governance challenges. He further suggested forming a ‘South Asian Governance Innovation Network’ to encourage regional cooperation and knowledge-sharing.

Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Special Assistant, Prof Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, urged that reforms must reflect local realities rather than imported models. He warned that the pursuit of lucrative positions had “distorted governance” and called for improving Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio to reduce reliance on international lenders.

Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Shah questioned why Pakistan’s administrative system had remained unchanged since independence. “Public servants were not truly serving the public,” he said, adding that Pakistan might need to “rebuild its system” much like Bangladesh did. He also cautioned that Western governance models cannot simply be copied, as the current structure “empowers the powerful and weakens the poor.”

The conference was attended by Bangladeshi High Commissioner Iqbal Hussain Khan, IAS Director Prof Dr Kashif Rathore, SANPA representative Prof Dr Ikhlaq Haq, Prof Dr Yamina Salman, and a large number of students and scholars.