Editorial

Catching the big fish

Its time that political big wigs realised that there is a genuine desire in the country to see this menace eradicated

Editorial September 01, 2015

This is not the politics of the 1990s; it is the politics — and law enforcement — of 2015. PHOTO: AFP

Ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is discommoded by the actions of assorted law-enforcement agencies. They have arrested several PPP luminaries, including a close friend and confidante of his in recent days and in a statement on August 31, he cried ‘foul’. He held the ruling PML-N of Nawaz Sharif directly responsible for his associates’ detention, and spoke of a return to “the politics of the ’90s”. Sindh, says he, has been brought to a standstill. It has not. This is not the politics of the 1990s; it is the politics — and law enforcement — of 2015. The political climate has changed; there is a real desire in parts of the establishment to have more honest and less corrupt governance. The electorate are equally less liable to stay silent when graft and corruption touch their lives. And the big fish are no longer untouchable, protected by a culture of impunity.

The PPP is threatening dire but unspecified ‘actions’ as a consequence of the arrests, but it is difficult to see exactly what those might be given that it has yet to recover from the drubbing of the 2013 elections. It will be for the courts of law to determine the guilt or innocence of those now detained. The judicial process itself is far from perfect, and the law-enforcement agencies not exactly shining examples of competence — but if the politics of Pakistan is ever to get cleaned up, then the big fish need to be caught. Corruption goes to the very top of the state. It is endemic in every part of political life, so much so that it is normative rather than deviant. It touches every political party as well, and if we are to be convinced that the current drive for accountability is equitable, then we would expect to be seeing an arrest of all corrupt elements within the PML-N as well. It goes without saying that the ruling party has its share of corrupt elements as well.

There is no quick fix for the problem of corruption in high places, and it is time that political big wigs realised that there is a genuine desire in the country to see this menace eradicated.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2015.

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COMMENTS (5)

S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply The down-trodden people of Pakistan have no sympathy with the ruling party leaders who have collectively misruled the country for decades for the benefit of themselves, their close family member and their friends and associates while the living conditions for the masses have been going from bad to worse. As such, it would matter little to the masses what happens to the leaders of Peoples Party, or of other parties for that matter. However, if the accountability is done on a selective basis, targeting only Peoples Party and MQM - which only have been affected so far - while others who have been in government for decades – and have cases of corruption against them - are left untouched, one is bound to think that if the intention was really intended to eliminate corruption and to end terrorism, the action should have been across-the-board. Also, if ending corruption was the motive then there should also have been some parallel attempts to reform the electoral process, especially simple and clear interpretation of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution to facilitate its strict application to aspiring candidates in order to ensure that unscrupulous elements who should not be allowed within miles of the Assemblies do not manage to barge in there again. With this important step missing, what is there to stop corrupt leaders from entering the assemblies again and appointing a new generation of corrupt operatives to replace those who are removed from their important positions through the operation, and to continue the loot and plunder? A Parliamentary Committee is already working on the subject of electoral reforms but due to conflict of interest, it can hardly be expected to work against the interest of powerful, habitual offenders who have been manipulating and exploiting the system for illicit personal gains. Also, while the military dictator Pervez Musharraf had given the country strong local governments and had also provided them constitutional protection, the so-called democratic parties PML-N and PPP have hacked down Local Government Acts and have stripped them of all powers. There is no move by the top team even on this front. And on First of September, Dawn published on its front page a comprehensive report titled ‘Population census scrapped once again?’ which raises serious doubts about whether the government still remains focused on holding the overdue population census. The census has to be done rather speedily so as to ensure that the population data is available in time for fresh delimitation of constituencies before the next elections. This has special significance for Karachi which gets robbed of its legitimate share in Provincial and National Assemblies as well as in Senate because the present constituencies have been determined on the basis of 1998 census which obviously does not account for substantial increase in Karachi population due to migration from interior Sindh as well as from the rest of the country in the period since he last population census. Therefore, if the armed forces are really serious in cleaning up the country, the operation has to be across-the-board and they also have to concentrate on important factors like electoral reforms, specially clear interpretation of Article 62 and 63, reversing of mala fide amendments to Local Government Acts by the provincial governments as well as the holding of population census on urgent basis. Karachi

Saleem | 8 years ago | Reply It is only in Pakistani what the person who became from Mr.10%, to Mr. 20%, and then to Mr. 50% can still call himself a politician, It not a shame for these politicians but shame on those who keep electing them and still cry about corruption in the country. I have not seen a single talk show or a series on corruption by politicians in Pakistan. There is no talk about how Mr. Zardari used to defend himself against accusation that he purchased Surrey Palace, which later became true. To avoid his appearance in graft cases around the world, Mr. Zardari used to produce a New York psychiatrist's medical certificate of incompetence and yet he became PM of the country. This can only happen when naive people keep voting for these corrupt politicians. They all must be eliminated and weather they live or die looted wealth should be returned to poor people of Pakistan.