Corruption: A prevailing disaster: Op-ed by Sarfraz Zaman in the Frontier Post, May 12

It is high time for ever sleeping Pakistani nation to get over from their woebegone and scanty situation. Dawn of every morning is induced with another calamity in one shape or the other. These calamities are not at all natural or inevitable but they are the aftermaths of contemptible and deplorable policies of the government. These policies were not completely erroneous from the beginning rather many of them were commendable and laudable but the only element that made these policies futile and delusive was corruption. Corruption is the fundamental element in the fiasco of Pakistan’s social fabric.
All the three pillars of the government i.e legislature, executive and judiciary are victim of it, whole of the bureaucracy and military are part of it and most of the political ulema are emblem of it. There are innumerable incidents and events in which high level extortion of funds was exposed to all but no action was taken by any democratic or military government to eradicate the nasty situation or to penalize the belligerents. As a result, today, we see that there is no Govt. office or department that is free from this Frankenstein’s monster, and whose working is efficient and transparent.
Today govt. job means a licence for exploitation in which there is no accountability and no punishment rather you would be having more and more personal relations with big fish who would help you out in making more black money and then proving it as legitimate earning.
This deplorable situation can be tackled if govt. shows sincerity with the state and sympathy with the people. All the past efforts i.e. Department of Anti-corruption and NAB have proved worthless only because of the reason that the respective department itself was not strong. It could not sustain the pressure of shabby political elite or odious bureaucrats or military top brass.
After a long time we find that at least two institutions of Pakistan are toiling to get back their prestige and dignity namely judiciary and army. Both the institutions are praised today for taking measures to cut down corruption from their offices. By dint of their honesty these institutions are gaining the support of people on one hand and foreign acceptance and assistance on the other.
Now one thing is far sure that only these two institutions are strong enough to regulate and monitor the process of accountability. To eliminate corruption from the social fabric of Pakistan it is necessary that this gigantic task should be given to the Pakistan army with the approval of the majority of parliament.
Parliament has passed 18th amendment but it is impossible for heterogeneous parliament to start accountability across the board. It is only possible if Pakistan Army allocates its few units with the task to curb corruption from each and every department of Pakistan Govt. It is not at all easy to get back the plundered wealth of Pakistan from the serving and retired Govt. officers who have already deposited the looted wealth in foreign banks. Judiciary must support military by providing the evidences which are already collected by it.
The network of military exists in all the provinces and this task can be completed in a very short span of time. This kind of transparent accountability should be steady, quick and swift. Our past experiences of 62 years reveal that we should not linger on the process of accountability because it gives a room to the corrupt people to flee from the country or to gather fake evidences for their defence. It is comparatively easier for the military to make lists of all the senior and junior corrupt officers and politicians. Their names and estimated plundered wealth including each and every kind of interest should be mentioned in the lists.
All the lists should be given to all the directors of the departments, NAB and judiciary. Telephone numbers and mail addresses should be given to the people of Pakistan to collect more and more authentic information about corrupt people. These days it is very easy to calculate the capital which has been plundered by a corrupt officer. Only the schooling of the children and residence of such a person can reveal a lot of facts. Easiest way is to compare the financial status of the accused before the employment and his luxuries of life at present.
Officers of grade 21 and 22 and the politicians who have remained the part of parliament are not many but officers from grade 14 to 20 and all other political workers are in great number. Their collective jobbery amounts more than billions of rupees and till the time we do not put them to task, they will not stop looting the country. Most of the issues and problems of the poor people are based on the discretion of the officers who are serving from grade 14 to 20.
It is clear from the facts that more chances of corruption are availed by these above mentioned officers. If Govt. cannot arrest senior most officers then at least Govt. should take steadfast measures to control the dishonesty of relatively junior officers because most of the down trodden masses are victimized by these junior officers.
Military must not wait or waste its time in capturing (nominating) the senior officers for accountability rather it should start accountability from the point, it feels better. If military proves the bribery of even few officers of grade 17 or 18, it would be a great success in a way that military would prove its worth and all the venality of Govt. officers would come to an halt at least for some period of time.
It would hearten the poor people because all the problems of the masses would start resolving without any dishonesty. It is a fact that corruption threatens good government, sustainable development, democratic process and fair business practices and if Govt. wants to subdue this situation then govt. must work out on this line of action. The greatest irony is that all this corrupted wealth is given by the poor people in shape of taxes i.e. bills and indirect taxes.
There is a strong relation between utility bills and corruption. The more the taxes are collected by govt. the more the corruption takes place. For the last one year electricity charges, gas prices and rates of petroleum products have increased almost 100% and corruption too increased more than 100%. This means inflation and corruption are directly proportional to each other and to cut down the prices Govt. has to eliminate each and every kind of theft from the society.
One thing is far sure that every time it is the people that pay the price of every disaster, may it be inflation, political skirmishes, load shedding or scarcity of water. If it is the matter of price rise a common man would bear the burnt, if it is load shedding a poor man has to face loss in his business and if it is scarcity of water then farmers have to face the disaster in shape of barren fields.
Our ruling elite remain untouched from any disaster and hence they never understand or try to solve the problems of the people. Parliament must make it mandatory that no govt. officer or parliamentarian should be provided by govt. vehicle, security staff and residence till the time he himself does not put request for the facilities by proving that he cannot afford these provisions personally.
All other govt. employees should use their own cars and live in their own big houses which are often located in the most expensive vicinity of the cities. It is said that extraordinary measures are taken in extraordinary circumstances but to be true all these measures are not at all hasty rather these are the need of the hour. Most of the govt. residences are given to those officers who already have more than two homes of their own in more than two cities of Pakistan.
Most of the government cars are given to those who already have more than three or four cars of their own. By ignoring such policies govt. is widening the gulf between the rich and the poor. Dissatisfaction and unrest is escalating in whole of the country and if prompt action is not taken by the quarters concerned in this regard, we would face ruination in each and every field. http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=256