The Panama prisoners are set to escape from ‘Panamagate’ on the heels of a mock inquiry
LARKANA: This refers to two recent editorials, “Accountability in the army” (April 23) and “Call the escape committee” (April 24) in this newspaper. Procrastination is the virtue of the coward and action is the privilege of the brave. Having held the black sheep in the khakis accountable for their wrongdoings, the General blazed a trail in the fight against corruption. The earlier dismissal of a major general in the National Logistics Cell corruption scandal and the nod to the NAB inquiry into the Defence Housing Authority scam involving brothers of former army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is another feather in his cap. Not only this, but the sacked officers have been asked to return the sacks of wealth earned through dishonest means. Thus, the General has brushed aside the long-standing perception of the military’s immunity from accountability.
By doing so, he killed two birds with one stone; he showed himself determined for military purges and put symbolical pressure on the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to do the same. The consequences of this assertive action has put moral pressure on the prime minister, not only to clarify the sources of the hefty amounts stashed away by his children at the Mossack Fonseca law firm, but also to begin an investigation against others involved in the same scam. Thus, the prime minister and other culprits named in the Panama Papers have been pushed towards narrow gates. This procrastination is an afterthought to pull wool over the eyes of the public.
With politicians’ skeletons in their cupboards and the bureaucracy reduced to ‘pampered kids’ as usual, there is every chance of overlapping corruption investigations. Let us not be deceived this time by letting the mega scandal slip into a maze of mock inquiries because the Panama prisoners are set to escape from ‘Panamagate’ on the heels of a mock inquiry. We, the people of Pakistan, and the media should be watchful so that these alleged plunderers of public money are made accountable. The prosperity of Pakistan depends on the eradication of corruption.
Nazeer Ahmed Arijo
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2016.
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