HARIPUR: Pakistan Engineers Forum (PEF) has demanded of the federal government to create a separate cadre ‘Pakistan Engineering Service (PES)’ or ‘Engineering Service of Pakistan’ (ESP) in the Central Superior Services (CSS) for better decision making and improved working in various ministries and divisions related to engineering and technical departments.

Engineer Asad Khan, the divisional coordinator Pakistan Engineers Forum (PEF) for Hazara Division, made this demand through a statement issued here on Friday.

Engineer Asad disclosed that currently almost all the important posts in 18 ministries and divisions were occupied by non-professional bureaucrats and CSS officers who were taking important decisions without having background in the respective field.

“There are many cases to quote that the government of Pakistan has suffered a lot due to delay in decisions or incorrect decisions on important matters by those heads of the concerned departments/ministries/divisions who were having hardly any professional expertise of the relevant field,” he added.

The PEF coordinator while quoting global references said that in many developed countries the departments and institutions were headed and run by professionals but in Pakistan the situation was quite opposite.

“We have to change the policy of ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, switching to the more professional approach of right person for the right job,” he said emphasising that the government should seriously consider this proposal in the best interest of the country, creating separate cadre named as ‘Pakistan Engineering Service (PES)’ or ‘Engineering Service of Pakistan (ESP)’ for what he claimed correct and timely decisions on national and international level issues and projects for better service delivery.

Asad said Pakistan Engineers Forum, established in 1979, has a total strength of 2,200 plus members from all related fields of technology and engineering including civil, mechanical, electronics, electrical, computer, chemical, agriculture, mining, etc.

He claimed that being the most popular organisation of Pakistani professional engineers, the PEF was working to promote honesty, dedication and professional excellence within the engineering community.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2025