Investing their ill-gotten millions in commerce and industry to make their gains legitimate, the corrupt being contemptuous of the laws of the land do not even bother to conceal their past. It is particularly frustrating for the common citizen who makes his (or her) living the hard way to see today’s pillars of society full of criminals. Having earned an honest livelihood thousands of retired personnel of the civil service, the bureaucracy, the military and the superior judiciary, openly lament why they did not avail the opportunity to make money when they could have living symbols for our present and future generations that honesty does not pay.
Flush with illegal cash criminals took over control of the State under the garb of “democracy” through the blatant purchase of loyalties across the board. Gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, gun-running, smuggling, etc. went hand in hand with legitimate business in the US from the 20s well into the 60s till the FBI moved really effectively against “organized crime”. Subsequent generations of gangsters shed their criminal image, infiltrating every strata of government and civil affairs to exist as responsible pillars of society. Many crime syndicate families, members of prestigious clubs they are today’s first-class citizens and members of corporate boards, no different in Pakistan.
Acting against illegal appointments in NAB Suo moto, the Supreme Court (SC) in March 2017 ordered de-notification of four NAB Director Generals (DGs) and some others because “they did not have required educational qualification at the time of their induction in the NAB”. Drawn from the Army in 1999/2000 they were not volunteers but ordered to serve NAB. Their average 10-13 years of Military service on joining NAB included personnel management, conduct of enquiries and investigations, administration, training and conducting operations. Given the option to go back to the Army in 2003, many of the army majors sacrificed their careers and benefits including pension, and commutation thereof, medical a house on retirement cover, and residential/ commercial plots under the welfare policy.
Passing the “Captain-to-Major Promotion Examination” included qualifying “Military Law,” a thorough understanding of Manual of Pakistan Military Laws (MPML), Qanoon-e-Shahadat (Evidence Act) and Hadood Ordinance, Recording of “Summary of Evidence” and “Conduct of Enquiry and Investigations” formed substantive part of this examination, in theory and practical. Qualified Intelligence Course from “School of Military intelligence” (SMI) Murree, their in-depth knowledge included skills in interrogation of suspects, conduct of discreet inquiries, forensic recognition of handwriting, collection, processing and analysis of evidence/ information. With qualification, relevant expertise and experience of four years’ service in NAB allowed them to be absorbed in NAB purely on merit in accordance with the law.
Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Zardari entering the National Assembly together reminded one of “birds of feather flocking together” to “democratically” escape accountability. To quote my recent article “Protecting the accountability process”, “The ganging up of political forces to escape accountability and the allegations against NAB and its performance should be of no surprise to anyone. To set the record straight requires us to analyse the performances since 2013. Taking Punjab as an example of the anti-corruption storm, look at the statistics. The average number of enquiries authorised by DG Husnain Ahmed (2013-2015) was 196 per year while Syed Burhan Ali (2013-2015), one of the officers removed by the SC verdict, averaged 210 per year out of which 208 enquiries were disposed. His successor DG Shahzad Saleem (2017 till date) averaged 200 of which 198 enquiries were disposed. References filed by Husnain averaged 36 per year while Burhan averaged 46 of which 13 were decided while Shahzad filed 50 References out of which 23 were decided per year. Husnain issued 125 arrest warrants per year with 69 executed while Burhan issued 154 arrest warrants with successfully. Executed 121 Shahzad issued 414 arrest warrants with 170 executed successfully. Husnain recovered Rs.1124 million per year, Burhan Rs.675 million while Shahzad recovered Rs.4140 million per year on aver-age. Not figments of imagination, these official statistics exist as an excellent indicator of NAB accomplishments in Punjab”, unquote. яндекс
According to Wikipedia, “When one obeys the spirit of the law but not the letter, one is doing what the authors of the law intended, though not necessarily adhering to the literal wording.” Justice is denied if it allows the accused to take advantage and hide behind technicalities that could be exploited by the wording of the law. There is nothing more laughable than our judicially’s stance in the open and shut “Hudaibia case”, statutes of limitations indeed! If you are corrupt but can run away, you will love to be corrupt another day. A direct threat to Pakistan’s national security, unless we ensure NAB remains effective this constitutionally country will become a gangster heaven.
