Strict checks, auditing and accountability of the ruling elite and the bureaucracy is what Pakistan lacks
LAHORE: This is apropos the prime minister’s comments about the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which, instead of punishing those involved in corruption of billions, has made a mockery of accountability through plea bargains and acquittals in return for paying a fraction of the sums that the accused may have looted. Those who are elected or recruited by the state on paid jobs are there to serve people as is the practice in the developed world, where the rule of law prevails — not as is done in Third World nations, where laws are subjugated to individual whims. It is not just the present government, but the PPP, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s and Ziaul Haq’s military junta, who are responsible for destroying the Quaid’s Pakistan and his legacy. Strict checks, auditing and accountability of the ruling elite and the bureaucracy ensures good governance and this is what Pakistan lacks. It may not be the business of the state to do business, but it is definitely its mandatory role to exercise strict regulatory controls through accountability of those who violate the law. Every citizen must submit to the supremacy of law.
On August 11, the Quaid stated that the biggest curse we have inherited is the cancer of corruption, bribery and hoarding from undivided India, while referring to the bureaucracy trained by the colonial British Raj to run an occupied country, unlike their role in the UK as servants of the people. Almost 69 years have passed and this country continues to be held hostage to the greed of a few, who want to pilfer it unchecked, pay no taxes, nor face any hurdles in the way of transferring their black money to foreign safe havens.
Economic resurgence and rise in exports cannot occur unless internal security and the rule of law are restored with bureaucratic red tape checked and without tolerance for any conflicts of interest of those tasked to hold executive and paid public offices. Crime and terrorism flourish because corruption addicted law-enforcement and security agencies aid them through bribery. The widening gap between state revenues generated by exports and tax collection vis-a-vis imports and expenditure has led to liquidity and credit risk, requiring more foreign debts at unfavourable interest rates, which may lead to the possibility of default and its inherent dangers to state sovereignty. It is fear of severe punishment for corruption which serves as deterrence — not the existence of laws, which are never implemented.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2016.
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