Sir: Civil service reforms are once again in the offing. The government has realised, rightly so, that the bureaucracy, instead of becoming a facilitator, has turned into a burden for the lack of quality bureaucrats. Reforms in the civil service have been carried out previously without affecting any change in its appointments and promotions structure. In fact they exacerbated the intervention of the politicians with the result that the Establishment Division became a post office that would only transfer or promote a bureaucrat on the orders of politicians. The original job of the department, to define a career path according to the abilities of the officers, has been put aside. Therefore any reform in the civil services would remain a sham unless the Establishment Division is given the autonomy to work independently and according to its job description. The culture of unnatural and undue promotions must also be done away with. It is not possible, as is wished and desired by every bureaucrat, to retire as a BS-21 officer. Neither is it possible for any officer to shine in the services. The administrative structure of the service should by default be such that it maintains a balance between a bright and not so bright officer. This would allow the organization to stand on its feet without political support. For years now the politicians are treating the country as their fiefdom and the bureaucrats as their personal servants. In the process the bureaucracy has become a self-defeating profession, strong externally but weak morally. The result is that intellectual integrity is conveniently thrown to the winds to appease the higher-ups. Asghar MahmoodIslamabad