The problem in Pakistan is that access to justice is selective. Corruption charges against serving government officials either slowly make their way through the courts or are heard by the Supreme Court if they decide to take suo motu notice. Providing speedy justice to all becomes a near impossibility. Relying on the Supreme Court’s suo motu powers is no substitute for an orderly process where all concerns can be heard and investigated. But even if we were to adopt an anti-corruption bill similar to India’s, we wouldn’t necessarily be able to ensure that action is taken against officials found corrupt. A law is only as good as those who are tasked with implementing it and in Pakistan there is an unfortunate dearth of judges and police officials who can carry out the intensive investigative work needed to unearth corruption. Also, corruption cases in Pakistan are tackled on the principle of victor’s justice. The National Accountability Bureau set up by Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif’s Ehtesab Bureau were not too dissimilar from the Indian model. However, these were set up with the express purpose of targeting the rulers’ political enemies. The true test of our ability to fight corruption will take place not when we introduce a bill in the National Assembly but when the government has to investigate itself.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2011.
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Eradication of vice and corruption was always an Utopian dream, but to become a part of this mighty corrupt system when chance offered, hardly anyone would oppose it!
Corruption in reality is a problem of lack of education & strong middle class. Every nation where voters were more than 60% middle class & fairly educated (literate), have very less corruption at everyday administration level.
This happens largely due to activism of the Middle class, which typically is the conscience keeper of most developed nations. Tragedy of Developing nations like India, China & Pakistan is that the literacy & middle class levels aren't yet at a level that is necessary for them to be deemed developed nations.
No people are corrupt or honest by nature. British officers were far more corrupt than the Mughal officers who preceded them in India. USA had massive corruption and an oligarchy of their own around 1900. The robber baron phenomenon that plagues India was there in USA too.
But, when US made a turn for the better, corruption plummeted. India, China too will go thru this curve.It may take couple of generations for this to happen.
The movement in India against corruption perhaps is the first wave of such Middle class assertions.
@ Arjun
"democracy which causes a lot of problems"
Dear Friend,
There is a huge difference between there being less corruption and there being less awareness about corruption in a country...
Let's compare India & China for instance... I do not dispute that China is far ahead in development because of decisive policy making and implementation... But, with regard to corruption, there rank exactly the same... See, for example, the corruption perception index...
When ~ 20-40 million died in the Great Chinese Famine, the Chinese government was more interested in covering it up than providing relief...
Democracy makes injustice visible...
Yes, noisy democracy contravenes decisive policy making... But, there is scope for improving the system... Don't throw the baby with the bath water...
As Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is a bad system, other systems are worse."
India & Pakistan need well-functioning, vibrant democracy... The success or failure of democracy lies entirely with the people and their active participation in the political process...
Corruption is much like prostitution. If you don't get enough sex at home, you go looking for it in all the wrong places. Corruption would not have been such a great problem if people received a decent living wage. You don't find so much corruption at the societal levels that we find it to be endemic in India, in countries far advanced than India. This is precisely because they have over long years reached that happy medium where people get a decent living wage and seeking illegal gratification attracts societal condemnation to a degree not worth risking. The ubiquitous nature of corruption in India cannot be remedied as long as there is no equitable sharing of fruits of prosperity! I am talking of corruption at level of "aam aadmi"! Corruption at stratospheric levels is a completely different animal!
Arjun,
Please look at Pakistan's past experiences with dictators and the army, what you are suggesting will take us back not forward!
One aspect where Pakistan really scores better than India is on the less-corruption front. Probably, there has been corruption in Pak Army, but, corruption in India is just mind boggling.
Take for example, a state like Tamil Nadu in South India, which perhaps is the most corrupt place in the entire South Asia. Surprisingly, despite corruption, thanks to a good educational system and atmosphere for private enterprise, the state has grown very well.
This is a state where people speak only Tamil and Hindi is least understood, and rarely spoken. The leading party DMK has been indicted by a commission that they are past masters in 'scientific corruption'. It would be fair to say that, Pakistani politicians are not even 1 per cent corrupt compared to the Tamil DMK leaders.
DMK politicians rule the media, they have channels in all south indian languages, music channels etc. News is heavily doctored and biased. Movie and construction industry belongs to them. If you want to sell your property, you can't get a fair price without giving commission to the local DMK leader. DMK's chief leader and his family own assets worth more than 5000 crore. DMK taught rest of India how to be corrupt.
The reason why Congress is so unpopular is that..they are friends with DMK and turn a blind eye to the Tamil politicians. DMK politicians also have close links with LTTE; the grapevine is that LTTE is funded by the Church of South India which used to be the original sponsor of DMK. (DMK's founding father were the first to voice support for Jinnah and for his dream of Pakistan. Till the 60s, they were demanding a separate country for Tamils. They dropped the demand when they learnt that politics can be lucrative in India.)
Pak might be a failed state, but, on corruption, your politicians will have to take lessons from our DMK and Congress. They hold the Masters degree while your politicos are yet to enter school. "Tum jis school mein padhte ho, us school ka principal mujhse tution leta hai" - DMK leader to Pakistani politician
Pakistan doesn't have the extent of corruption that India does thanks to its Army which has ruled it for most of the time since 47. Authoritarian rule and discipline are possible solutions for Pakistan, rather than democracy which causes a lot of problems. As examples of success, may I point to Singapore and China. Corruption-ridden democracy is not the only way.
Current LokPal is a "JokePal" as Kiran Bedi has put it. All Indians must push the fight further. Extreme situation calls for extreme actions! A good development is that the HR & Personnel Minister ( which admnisters all Babus) wants to change the rules and even amend the constitution to remove sections that protect corrupt Babus from the sack.
The most encouraging development though is the rising awareness of the average Indian.
Anti-corruption bill not work in Pakistan as long the Army is in control.
The current Lokpal bill is a sham. Also Anna Hazare, through single minded focus on accountability of PM lost the most vital clause: the protection of the whistle blower. Current draft needs to be modified to include this and Anna should emphasize on this. But overall I do feel good that tolerance towards corruption is decreasing in the general public day by day. We need a sustained effort to root this menace out of India.