The lady who spearheads a silent protest

ISLAMABAD: Young Turks have started surfacing in bureaucracy when a female officer, Anita Turab, emerged as the first drop of rain on Thursday, who went to office wearing a protest arm-band against the unceremonious removal of the secretary establishment.

She is the first officer working under the federal government (Interior Ministry) who has put up a brave face, thereby inspiring a reaction among other bureaucrats who plan initiating a movement to restore the lost dignity of the bureaucracy. They are being mobilised through social media with Facebook pages calling for the protection of civil servants being created.

Messages on Facebook being posted by bureaucrats look like a precursor of a gathering storm as they are calling a lawyers-like social movement to regain the lost glory of the bureaucracy. One officer, for instance, posted a message, saying the judiciary that had little respect just five years ago earned it back through a struggle and it was not granted voluntarily.

Anita, director at the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), confirmed protesting in addition to expressing her resolve to continue with the protests. More bureaucrats are likely to follow this bid in the coming days. She was, however, reluctant to speak in detail, saying this was an internal struggle that will pick up momentum but their efforts are not for media consumption.

Apart from Anita’s demonstration in the federal capital, such kinds of protests have also been reported in Lahore where the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) witnessed its staff and officers wearing arm-bands. All training academies of civil service officers come under the domain of the NSPP, giving more significance to the arm-band protest observed there.

One message says: “Let’s launch a social movement. Our colleagues are also at fault who behave like personal servants of the ministers. They beg for choice postings that eventually weaken them. Therefore, they can’t call a spade a spade.”

“We are rolling stones being kicked from all sides,” said a Facebook message of a frustrated officer. “If we work at the whim of the executives, we are rebuked by the court,” another notes. “If we do otherwise, the government humiliates us. See what happened to the secretary establishment.”

An officer talking to The News said: “This is the time when history is looking back at us asking what the civil servants are doing.” There is a strong realisation among the officers about their future. 

“People say how we will be treated after 10 years if the present trend is not arrested. I personally don’t know the secretary establishment. But the message sent through his sacking is for all of us,” said the officer. “We will have to say ‘no’ to all the unlawful orders. We have to say ‘look, I can’t be part of a wrongdoing’.”

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