After a long delay in the Central Selection Board (CSB) and High Power Board (HPB), the hour that senior civil servants had been eagerly waiting for has finally arrived. In the wake of the continuous delay of the last 18 months, the frustration of thousands of eligible officers, and the increasing pressure from the bureaucracy facing the threat of retirement, the Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staff took immediate action and announced the final date for the CSB meeting.
According to an emergency notification issued by the Establishment Division, the Central Selection Board meeting will be held in Islamabad from March 10 to 13, 2025. The meeting will be chaired by Lieutenant General (retd) Akhtar Nawaz Satti, and the promotions of officers from BS-19 to BS-20 and BS-20 to BS-21 will be decided in it. The decision will be a breath of fresh air for Pakistan’s crippled government machinery, where administrative matters were being badly affected due to junior officers and ad hoc appointments.
According to sources, the Establishment Division had already completed all the preparations for this meeting, but continuous delays and bureaucratic hurdles had put the important process in jeopardy. Any further delay would have required new ACRs and quantification calculations, which would have delayed promotions by several more months—a situation that no one could afford. The timely intervention of the Prime Minister and the Army Chief has not only instilled new hope among government officers but has also restored the credibility of the military-backed coalition government, which had faced severe criticism for postponing these meetings.
It is now expected that the appointments of senior officers to key government posts will be made, which will significantly improve the efficiency and governance of the federal government. The notification has directed all concerned officers to ensure their attendance at the meeting, while the agenda and working papers will be issued soon. This development could prove to be a historic turning point for Pakistan’s bureaucracy, showing that if government officers collectively raise their voices, they can move even the highest chambers of power.
