Dawn; MR Nawaz Sharif has earned admiration for the equanimity with which he bore his torment of arbitrary dismissal, persecution in Attock Fort and years of exile even though he lived in the comfort of Jeddah palaces and London’s Mayfair after that.

Back home and in power, as admiration fades away he must contend with detractors and sycophants alike, more than any other prime minister. In his past regime, sycophancy predominated because Mian Sahib is known to be amenable to personal flattery but wary of restraint in official business.

That may be an exaggerated view of his behaviour and style of government. But with the hindsight of my not-too-happy personal experience pertaining to the time when he was prime minister and I the secretary to government in his first and longest term (1990-93), I feel persuaded to give him some detached advice.

At that time, he transferred me twice out of sheer pique: first from the production ministry after I had been there for only four months and later from the petroleum ministry when I had just four months to retire. On both occasions, he acted on rumour or, more likely, on the complaint of the minister. No reason was given nor was I heard.

The rules of business specifically require that where the secretary and minister disagree the final decision must rest with the prime minister. Mr Sharif instead of calling for the files assumed that I must be wrong or, more dangerously, that the secretary must always act in subordination to the minister.

That has become a practice over the years. Secretaries, as a matter of course, acquiesce in every order of the minister — right, wrong or perverse.

Important decisions are now mostly one-sided as the prime minister has ceased to be an umpire. He himself having been at the receiving end of arbitrary orders, Mr Nawaz Sharif must now encourage secretaries to freely express their views even if they are contrary to that of the ministers, and agree with them if their reasoning is more plausible or the law is on their side.

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