The DMG stands for the “District Management Group”, the elite service from amongst the various services within the Pakistan’s Civil Services. The name, although a misnomer, is given to the service because in the formative years of the career of a DMG officer, he is given the charge of the administrative unit called the District. Pakistan’s 796,095 sq. km area is divided into 114 districts in all. The districts are not equal in size or area. For instance, population-wise the Lahore district is larger than the whole province of Balochistan. Likewise, area-wise the Chaghai district in the Balochistan province is comparable to the whole NWFP province.

Not at all. The exposure at the title positions in the districts give them experience of swift and decisive decision making. Enriched with the district command experience, the DMG officers rise to the level of provincial Secretaries to the Provincial Governments and later to the Federal Government. On an average, a DMG officer spends roughly 10 to 12 years in field service and the rest in positions of responsibility in the provincial and then the federal governments.

The CSS stands for the Central Superior Services that include the twelve elite groups of Pakistan’s federal civil service; the DMG is the best among the best. That is to say that out of the thousands of candidates that appear in the CSS competitive examination each year, the DMG is the dream of almost 97%. The remaining 3% opt for Police, Customs or Foreign Service as the first choice. However, the most talented 15 to 20 young men and women make it to the DMG each year.

The CSS includes the following: the District Management Group (DMG), Police Group (PSP), Foreign Service Group (FSG), Customs and Excise Group (CEG), Income Tax Group (ITG), Pakistan Audit & Accounts Group (PAAG), Military Land & Canotnments Group (MLCG), Trade & Commerce Group (TCG), Office Management Group (OMG), Railways Commercial & Transportation Group (RCTG), Information Services Group (ISG) and Postal Group (PG). The total intake each year hover round 200 officers. The top three groups in the list DMG/PSP/FSG have roughly 15 to 20 officers each. Ten percent seats in each of these these three groups are reserved for the young and enterprising officers of the armed forces of Pakistan.

ICS stands for the Indian Civil Service. It was the name of the Civil Service cadre during the British rule in India. After the partition of 1947, the ICS was succeeded by the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in India and the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) in Pakistan. The PAS was renamed as CSP in 1950 and then DMG in 1973, by which name it still exists.

PAS stands for Pakistan Administrative Service which was the predecessor service of the Civil Service of Pakistan.