ral history is a popular technique to document events, people and places. It is an established method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the memories of people, communities and participants in past events. Based on a dialogue between an interviewer and narrator (interviewee), oral history is usually recorded and transcribed, providing a first-hand account of the past, typically not found in written documents or the nuances usually not found in traditional historical records.

Pakistan does not have a strong tradition of recording oral histories. The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad has done a commendable job by organising an oral history project titled The Living Scripts, which interviews leading retired government servants. More than thirty interviews have been recorded so far under this oral history project. Out of these interviews, IPS has published an anthology of twelve memoirs by some of the most distinguished public servants in book form: Beyond the Files: Conversations with Pakistani Civil Servants. Syed Abu Ahmad Akif, a former Secretary of the Cabinet Division and an associate of IPS’s oral history project, has edited the book.

Twelve veteran civil servants whose memoirs have been included in this first volume are: Masud Mufti (former additional secretary), Shamim Ahmad Khan (former Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan), Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi (former IG Police Punjab & Federal Secretary Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf (former Chief Secretary AJK), Javed Hassan Aly (former Federal Secretary Ministry of Environment), Dr. Asad Ali Shah (former Member Planning Commission), Dr. Syed Muhammad Junaid Zaidi (former Executive Director COMSATS Institute of IT), Ambassador Umar Khan Ali Sherzai, Fazal Abbas Maken (former Secretary Cabinet Division), Ambassador Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi, Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain, and Shoaib Mir Memon (former Chairman State Life Insurance). Three contributors- Masud Mufti, Javed Hassan Aly and Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi- have passed away before the publication of this book.

These twelve civil servants joined the government service between 1958 and 1987, and some of them served till recently. All of them witnessed significant and transformative events during the last six decades of Pakistan’s history. One of the interesting features of the book is the frank discussion about the fall of East Pakistan, now called Bangladesh, as three contributors- Mufti, Qureshi and Ashraf- were posted in East Pakistan during the tumultuous years of 1970-71. Mufti and Ashraf became prisoners of war after the fall of Dhaka.

Apart from being a prominent government servant, Masud Mufti was a celebrated Urdu prose writer who attained fame for his books of reflections and reportage on events in East Pakistan. Mufti was a senior administrator in both West and East Pakistan and later served in the Asian Development Bank in Manila for many years. His chapter also recalls the initial years of Pakistan, which were full of hope and promise and how they were betrayed in the subsequent decades.

Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi, apart from witnessing East Pakistan in its final days as a police officer, also received his training at the Police Training College in Sardah, East Pakistan, in 1963 and has shared his memories of East Pakistan before the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war. He later became the IG, Police Punjab and is one of the key authors of the Police Order 2002. His chapter focuses on issues related to policing in Pakistan. He served as the federal secretary of three ministries and has also recorded his recollections of the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, while based in Tehran as a diplomat during the historic period of 1979-81.

Three chapters- contributed by Shamim Ahmad Khan, Junaid Zaidi and Asad Ali Shah- shed light on technical matters. Shamim Ahmad Khan, who started his career as a district administrator but later specialised in economic and financial matters, spent most of his professional life at the Ministry of Finance and the Corporate Law Authority, which later became the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Khan, who was the founding chairman of SECP, has explained in detail the evolution and history of corporate law in the country. His chapter is a must-read for all those interested in corporate law and governance in Pakistan.

This first volume, in what promises to become an important series, is a valuable contribution to Pakistan’s administrative history. 

Dr Junaid Zaidi, who made his name in the fields of science, technology and educational management, has discussed matters related to science, technology and education. Dr Asad Ali Shah joined the coveted Civil Service of Pakistan in 1969 but left after ten years to pursue his PhD in Structural Engineering in Canada. He was associated with the Asian Development Bank for more than two decades and later joined the Planning Commission of Pakistan as a member in 2004.

Ch Mohammad Ashraf joined government service in 1965 and saw all four military governments in Pakistan’s history. He has described in detail the deteriorating situation in East Pakistan, where he became a prisoner of war while posted in Dhaka. He retired as Chief Secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir during President Musharraf’s time.

Javed Hassan Aly belonged to the Income Tax Service but spent most of his professional career outside his core service. He served in the FIA and Aviation divisions. He later rose to the position of Establishment Secretary, a very powerful position in the bureaucracy, which members of the Civil Service of Pakistan have mostly held. Fazal Abbas Maken started his career as a district administrator but later served in the provincial secretariats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At the federal level, he served as the federal secretary of three ministries, including the Cabinet Division.

Ambassador Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi is the only female civil servant among the twelve selected for this first volume. Apart from her professional career, she has also written about personal tragedies in her life: having lost her father when she was twelve years old and then becoming a young widow. She has complemented her mentors in the Foreign Service, who have guided and supported her throughout her 37 years at the Foreign Office.

Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain served as Ambassador in Nepal, Kuwait and Afghanistan. The most interesting portion of his memoir pertains to his two postings in Afghanistan- first during the Taliban period in the 1990s and later as Ambassador during Ashraf Ghani’s tenure.

This volume is not just about public service, governance or statecraft. It documents both the professional and personal journeys of twelve well-known public servants, but, more interestingly, how they discharged the burdens of power or handled pressure from their political bosses.

Ambassador Umar Khan Ali Sherazi, who was a diplomat in the Gulf countries, has recounted how he received a threatening phone call from Pakistan’s Prime Minister, who verbally abused him, but a few days later he met Sherazi in the Prime Minister’s Office, hugged him and apologised for his behaviour. Shoaib Mir Memon, who belongs to Sindh and served as Chief Secretary, Balochistan, has recounted how he was victimised by one of his close relatives, who was arguably the most powerful civilian figure in the country, and was nearly dismissed from government service as a result of this personal vendetta.

All oral history books, and this book is no exception, suffer from certain fundamental and structural flaws: fallibility of memory, hindsight bias, and subjectivity and emotional influence of the narrator. The best way to mitigate these flaws is through triangulation, combining oral history with written records and artefacts to create a more balanced narrative. IPS has adopted this approach to some extent and deserves commendation. This first volume, in what promises to be an interesting series, is a valuable contribution to the administrative history of Pakistan.

The reviewer is the author of Views and Reviews. He tweets @AmmarAliQureshi