Dear Readers,
Pakistan has been dubbed a ‘Failed State’ or a ‘Failing State’ especially by foreign ‘experts’ and ‘think tanks’ who more often than not do not have good insight or understanding about the intricacies, the minutiae of what makes our politics and the people of this nation tick. Pakistan faces severe challenges, but no one should doubt that it has made important and significant strides in many areas. This nation has the resilience, the spirit and the character to bounce back from internal and external challenges and the natural disasters it has faced. We rarely live in times when a storm does not rage, where intrigues and conspiracy theories do not abound, where rumour mills go into overdrive, churning out half-truths and confusion thereby creating misunderstanding and uncertainty.
Of late talk about a political change in Pakistan had gathered momentum; this was given impetus by the uttering of some seasoned politicians. However, good sense has prevailed and the talk about change appears to have fizzled out. Almost all stakeholders, including those who had been threatening of an impending change, have now given assurances that they were against bringing about such a change all the time.
The 2010 Transparency International (TI) Report placed Pakistan among 34 most corrupt countries in the world while another Report put Pakistan at the bottom in World Prosperity Index. Pakistan is listed at 109 among 110 nations in the World Prosperity Index and only Zimbabwe is behind it in the rating. The National Corruption Perception Survey says that corruption worth Rs 223 billion occurred in the country this year compared to Rs 195 billion in 2009 with the police and bureaucracy maintaining their ranking as the two most corrupt public sector institutions. As always the government was quick to denounce the reports terming them as conspiracies by various NGOs to defame Pakistan. The Sindh Assembly felt that “such negative perceptions do not reflect reality, instead pose hurdles in the path of a democratic government committed to strengthening democracy and equitable justice, and dedicated to fighting the menace of corruption in the country.” The government may fret and fume all it wants, the fact remains that Pakistan’s ranking further has gone down because of poor economic situation, low level of literacy, poor health facilities as well as the continuing deterioration in the law and order situation in the wake of acts of terrorism. Many of the problems, grave as they are, can be resolved if the government has the political and applies itself with determination. As far as the people are concerned, they yearn only for good governance – that means the government has to respond to the needs of the citizenry and well as on the rule of law and a healthy respect for judicial independence. Surely, that is not too much to ask from a government that was voted into power by the people who believed their lives would change for the better? For the benefit of readers I am re-producing my recent article “ASCENDING THE CORRUPTION INDEX”.
A committee was set up by the PM in 2009 to ascertain why Pakistan had slipped from 47th place to 42nd in the Corruption Perception Index, the further erosion in our standing in 2010 angered Gilani. However his accusation of Transparency International (TI) being “the biggest threat to democracy in Pakistan” is ludicrous. TI could certainly be a threat to the type of democracy functioning today in the country, corrupt to the core, and with no inclination of changing its modus operandi. No one can ever accuse TI of having a political agenda, over the years its Pakistan Chapter has done excellent work uncovering corruption in the public sector. It’s credibility has earned recognition by USAID with the contract to monitor the US$ 1.5 billion Kerry-Lugar aid.
Asif Zardari unfairly faces most allegations about corruption, the PM is working overtime against some political time-line to outdo him. Unfortunately for Pakistan, he has been getting away with it. Can Gilani blandly feign benign ignorance while blatantly appointing well-known tainted and corrupt people in charge of govt departments and public sector organizations? Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) claims uncovering approximately Rs. 300 billion fraud and pilferage in the public sector. The Supreme Court (SC) has taken up three suo-muto TIP referred cases including the aforementioned NICL case, Rental Power Plants (RPP) and Pakistan Steel. Why is pressure being applied on TIPs Adil Gilani except to emasculate its capacity to expose corruption in high places?
Public money was looted at will by collusion between private individuals and NICL officials. When Zafar Qureshi, Director FIA Punjab, took out a warrant for arrest of the prime NICL officials and collaborators thereof, the expedience of shifting him from his post was tried, “promoting” him as Additional Director Immigration FIA. Was the enquiry leading to someone’s favorite son? Subverting the course of an investigation is also corruption, the attempted cover-up gives enough reason for a separate suo-muto enquiry by the SC.
Side-lining honest officials to derail/delay investigations is an old ploy. DG FIA, Tariq Khosa, was immediately “promoted” to Federal Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control when he uncovered massive corruption in Pakistan Steel. His successor as DG FIA, Zafrullah Khan, failed to “deliver” and has been replaced within a year. Not surprisingly, the new DG FIA, Waseem Ahmed, has done an 180% U-turn on the criminal findings of his own department. With Pakistan Steel going from surplus to bankrupt within one year, can the perceptive former CCPO Karachi elaborate how he came to this sudden “revelation”? And is he questioning the integrity and credibility of someone as outstanding as Tariq Khosa? Rahman Malik grandly announced a 7-days notice to stop all corruption (zero-sum) beginning with his own Ministry and departments thereof, 10 days later we are still waiting with bated breath (with emphasis on the word “bated”) for the promised cleansification campaign to commence. Zero into zero remains zero!
Is TIP targetting the Zardari – Gilani regime alone? What about the scams in the Pakistan Railways that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is looking at from the Musharraf era, among them viz (1) the procurement of Chinese locomotives without adhering to procedures and technical specifications thereof and (2) the leasing out of the Railway Golf Course at Lahore? No banker worth his salt, let alone former Citibanker (than Finance Minister) Shaukat Aziz, would ever give such telephonic verbal verification about a foreign firm in a deal of that magnitude as the (than) Federal Minister of Railways is blatantly claiming. Does the declaration of assets of the officials involved in the transaction match the salary and perquisites they earned doing their years of service? If they don’t, they are no better than any common criminal.
While serving in NLC three senior Army officers (again of the Musharraf era) illegally “invested” NLC funds in the stock market. While enquiring their connections to their favourite stockbrokers, why not scrutinize their assets and that of their kith and kin? The looted public money needs to be recovered, not only from them but from their collaborating stockbrokers. The Army has a wrong notion that protecting such people is necessary “because it would damage the reputation of the army”. On the contrary, the Army’s reputation would be enhanced by making them salutary examples for besmirching the uniform they wore. Does rank give licence to loot and plunder, and their stars to blind us to their misdeeds? Our boys have been (and still are) dying in the counter-insurgency operations to successfully redeem the reputation of the honourable uniform that had sunk to an all-time low by early 2007. Why should their supreme sacrifice in blood be used to cover the misdeeds of outright rascals living comfortably off the loot and plunder of public assets, whatever their rank?
Trying to compromise the media’s integrity and thus derail their penchant for accountability is not a Pakistani phenomenon alone. Despite their holier-than-thou stance, renowned media personalities were already suspected to be compromised even before they were “mentioned in dispatches” accepting lucrative plots of land from the govt. For refusing to sell their conscience, Marianna Babar and Ansar Abbasi deserve kudos, they are not “children of a lesser God”. The SC should call for a list of all plots so allotted for the last three decades? How about listing all those on the payroll of intelligence agencies and PR entities, civil and military both?
NAB did not react to the scams referred to by TIP even in a single case. Other than NICL, Pakistan Steel and Pakistan Railways, they include corruption in the NHA, EOBI, OGDC, NESPAK, etc. With NAB very deliberately made non-functional, TIP’s Adil Gilani is disappointed that no effective accountability presently exists in Pakistan. More power to you, Adil Gilani, and more power to the SC!
Ch Nisar Ali Khan raised a hue and cry in the National Assembly that two soldiers on duty at a checkpost pointed their guns at a Federal Minister’s car carrying the national flag, somebody should tell him they were simply doing the job they were meant to do. Any terrorist could well have faked entry under false pretences into a restricted area under the cover of a national flag. The Federal Minister involved (Dr (?) Babar Awan, denies it was him) should be grateful to God those soldiers did not proceed to take out their frustrations on him for the loot and plunder that has led to the high prices of essentials and utilities directly attributable to this govt’s corruption and/or its gross mis-governance. How long will Kayani be able to keep in check the simmering anger of those whose kith and kin are among the hundreds of millions suffering untold hardship? Only institutions like the SC and people like Adil Gilani prevent more from happening than simply the pointing of guns. That disciplinary “fail-safe line” could well be crossed in the near future inspite of Kayani, and despite the Army “belonging to him” as Yusuf Raza Gilani confidently claims for some reason.
With sugar beyond Rs 120 a kilo, the people of Pakistan ain’t seen nothing yet! The PM needs to beware of “the rage of angels” taking to the streets.
M. Ikram Sehgal
