Irtiqa Zaidi’s ‘Negotiating the Power Corridors’ launched
Speakers at the launch of Negotiating the Power Corridors: Forty Challenging Years of Civil Service – a compilation of interesting and highly educative autobiographical notes by veteran civil servant Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi – termed the work as a must read for policy practitioners, politicians, civil servants and young aspirants of Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) as it carries a message that the civil servants should always be subservient to the state and not to the rulers no matter how many challenges they face in discarding their duties in the best interest of the country and its people.
The book published by IPS Press – the publishing arm of the
Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, jointly with Fazlee’s Book –
negates the public impression that civil servants enjoy boundless powers and
privileges and spend carefree attractive lives. It narrates the hard fact that
a patriotic, hardworking and honest civil servant has to face tremendous
challenges in the disposal of his duties.
Alongside the book’s author Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi, the launch ceremony held on January 8, 2020 was addressed by Executive President IPS Khalid Rahman, Dr Zafar Qadir, former Chief Secretary of Balochistan and former Federal Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, Asif Mahmood Jah, Chief Collector (North) Pakistan Customs and IPS Fellow Dr Shahzad Iqbal Sham.
It may be mentioned that Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi is the only civil servant from Balochistan who has worked in the Government of Balochistan and the Federal Government for over 40 years. He has also served as a consultant in CIDA, UNDP and ADB. For three years he was Pakistan’s focal person for Asia Trust Fund of European Union/International Trade Centre, Geneva. He remained project director of World Bank-funded Trade and Transport Facilitation Project for seven years. He also headed UNDP-funded Trade Initiative from Human Development Perspective Project. As a senior member of Pakistan’s team, he participated in all eight rounds of negotiations held at Kabul and Islamabad during 2009-10 between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA). Zaidi was elected executive director of UNCTAD’s Common Fund for Commodity. He was elected secretary-general of Society of Pakistan Economists and elected vice president of Netherlands Alumni Association of Pakistan. He is Overseas Fellow of Economics Development Institute (EDI) of the World Bank. He has also represented the Government of Pakistan in several international seminars and conferences in 22 countries.
