President Dr Arif Alvi Tuesday urged the young civil servants to perform their duties with honesty and adopt an open-door policy to come up to people’s expectations.
He said Pakistan is well placed geo-politically, and it has a huge population of energetic youth and capable women and is blessed with tremendous natural resources. He added that Pakistan could attain fast-paced development by empowering its women, polishing the youth’s talent and enabling them to get on their feet.
The President expressed these views while addressing the graduating probationary officers of 49th Common Training Programme (CTP) here at Civil Services Academy (CSA), Lahore, where Secretary Establishment Division Afzal Latif and CTP Director Kamran Ahmed were also present. CSA Director General Omer Rasul presented the welcome address.
Dr Arif Alvi said that people elect politicians as their representatives to the assemblies, and those politicians formulate public welfare and sectoral development policies, while bureaucracy is the executing agency of those policies and people’s welfare agenda. The police are the primary executing agency of government, as it is the first institution that sustains social and other pressures in any illegal situation, he said.
The president advised the graduating probationary officers of the Common Training Programme to set priorities of their life that will take them to success, asserting that bureaucratic institutions transform the government’s social contract with people into a reality.
The president congratulated the graduating probationary officers as well as their parents on the successful completion of the programme. He said that education, along with moral and ethical training from their parents and society, had brought young officers to this point in their life. He stated that the people, who have the ability to uphold principles and manage their biases, always achieve success in this world and hereafter.
Dr Arif Alvi said, “I think one should always be in the learning process. One does not usually change mind after attaining maturity after the age of 25, but successful people are those who manage to change their thinking and mindset by observing the circumstances, social behaviours and learning from new information.”
He recalled his past moments and extracurricular activities during his study years in Lahore, adding that everyone deems himself supreme, but reality might be different.
“Therefore, you should be competitive, and you should not indulge in misuse of powers,” the president advised and asked the officers to consider different points of view while making decisions.
The president called upon the graduating officers to be honest while performing their official duties on various positions; never compromise on national interest; always keep your doors open to the common man; never skip prayers, especially Juma prayers; compare your living standard with the common man so that you can feel the hardships of people and take measures for their welfare.