.ISLAMABAD – A powerful voice of dissent has emerged from the provinces as the Association of Administrative Federalism (AOAF)—an umbrella body representing over 3,000 provincial civil servants across Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir—has written an urgent appeal to Prime Minister of Pakistan, warning against what it calls a “systematic erosion” of Pakistan’s federal constitutional foundation.
In a strongly-worded letter to the Prime Minister, AOAF has accused the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), formerly known as DMG, of unlawfully monopolizing key administrative posts “from the district level all the way up to the federal corridors of power” without any constitutional authority. The association argues that Pakistan’s founding vision, reinforced through Articles 1 and 2-A of the Constitution, clearly establishes Pakistan as a federal republic with guaranteed provincial autonomy. “Just as not every judge becomes a justice, nor every army officer a general, it is unreasonable that every PAS/DMG officer should automatically rise to Grade 22,” the letter points out, adding that the entire governance model has been distorted to revolve around this “Grade 22-centric” interest. AOAF claims that the roots of the problem lie in the controversial reintroduction of the “reservation of posts” scheme in 1954—something Quaid-e-Azam himself had opposed at independence.
According to the association, this scheme was reintroduced without any constitutional backing and later cemented through executive orders, granting PAS/DMG officers “exclusive dominance” over civil service positions. The association has also expressed alarm over reports that the PAS/DMG lobby is actively seeking constitutional amendments to further cement its hold over civil services. “Such moves are not just administrative overreach; they are an existential threat to Pakistan’s federal structure and national cohesion,” the letter warns. AOAF stresses that if provincial posts are centralized under federal or so-called ‘All Pakistan Services,’ it would effectively convert Pakistan into a unitary state—against the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and the very spirit of the Constitution.
The association has demanded that PAS/DMG officers be constitutionally restricted to roles defined under the Federal Legislative Lists Part I & II, leaving provinces to be governed by their own provincial services. AOAF has also offered to give a formal presentation to the Prime Minister on this issue. The appeal, signed by AOAF Administrator Tarid Mahmood Awan and co-signed by presidents of provincial civil service associations from all four provinces, has been widely circulated with copies sent to all Chief Ministers, Governors, Chief Secretaries, Members of the National Assembly, Senators, and MPAs of provincial assemblies. This rare public dissent from within Pakistan’s civil services has set off ripples in the administrative and political circles, as it directly challenges the decades-old dominance of PAS/DMG—an elite group often described as the “permanent establishment” of governance in Pakistan.
