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

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.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.