Originally Posted by floydian

Having lived most of my life in cantts and being son of a senior army officer I have following observations about MLCG.

MLCG is a decent and nice group but I totally disagree with the rosy picture painted about this group in this thread. MLCG is far behind IRS and PAAS, what to talk of DMG or PSP. I disagree that their perks and privileges are better than DMG or PSP. Secondly, "afsari" comes when there is a great deal of public dealing involved. Whereas, CEO mostly deals with serving and retired army officials (the real afsars). He has to obey the station commander (serving brigadier) and even Colonel Staff (serving colonel) of GOC. The CEO can't even refuse an ADC (serving captain) of the GOC. He can’t say no to any army officer in the course of his duty. Having lived in the cantonment areas all my life I know how the CEO is treated by the army officers. Thirdly, there is a lot of bribery and corruption involved in this group from bottom to top. The house that is given to the CEO is usually pre-partition built and its like a dark old bungalow full of cockroaches and other insecticides. Whereas, a DCO gets a well maintained lavish 22 canals house full of dedicated servants and armed police guards.

Another point is authority. Dr Ali Zaidi says that CEO is part of a military bureaucracy (I just couldn’t stop laughing when I read this). The realty is that military bureaucracy consists only of serving army officers. Its chain of command lies in the GHQ and its reigns are in the hands of Corp Commanders. A CEO in his wildest dreams can never become a part of a military bureaucracy. And MLCG officers are considered either outcasts or unimportant when it comes to civilian bureaucracy. This group has absolutely no role in policy making even at the cantonment board level. CEO only carries out the farmans of military bosses. And in the cantonment areas he is usually addressed as “rashi” (bribe taker). On the other hand DMG, PSP, IRS and PAAS officers are the REAL bureaucracy of this country. They are the ones who have the major role in policy making and implementation.

Yet another misconception is that it is considered that MLCG is very close to the army circles and hence this group is very influential or resourceful. In reality army officers have totally different mindset and psyche. Even the civilians working in the ISI are considered outsiders or bloody civilians (as Kamran Shafi would have it). And it is useless to expect that you can get personal favors from the army officers. Army officers believe in "an arms's distance" when it comes to dealing with non army people. The crux is that MLCG group has no independent identity or authority like DMG or PSP. I personally know a retired MEO living in a rented 2 room apartment in defense as he had to sell his plots (his only precious possessions from MLCG) to afford education to his sons in the UK. And about his relations with senior army officers he says “un ki gernailee ka muhje koi faida nahi hai” and “they don’t even attend my phone” and “na eid mubarik sms ka reply kiya”. This was his response when I asked him why he didn’t ask the GOC to get his son admitted in NED University. After serving this group for so many years under the nose of army officers this chap is still stranger in army circles and civilian bureaucracy. Finally, when I asked him if I should place MLCG in my top four group preference? He replied that I should place this group lower than IRS and PAAS .

However, MLCG officer do get a government vehicle. And if his conscious is dead then he can get the cantonment board employees to work at his house as personal servants. But again this is not their privilege but corruption. They live in peaceful but boring places called cants and their kids study mostly in Army Public Schools. All in all a very low exposure and scope throughout service.

If you are offended by this post then please ignore it. However, it is my belief that one should not misguide juniors/css aspirants/qualifiers about any particular group. Therefore, I shared my honest and genuine observation about this group.

cheers,
floydian