Pakistanis love to ape
America. What with the recent Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Mother’s Day
celebrations. Would be so nice if America’s work ethic, punctuality, integrity,
processes, legal recourse and fidelity to the state were also adopted. And most
importantly what America does with corrupt members of government.
Recently former Virginia
Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife were found guilty of accepting gifts,
totaling $160,000, from the owner of a nutritional supplement company in return
for promoting his products while they were in office. The U.S. Justice
Department said the "convictions should send a message that corruption in
any form, at any level of government, will not be tolerated." The charges
carry a potential 30-year jail sentence.
Compare the
corruption in the richest nation on earth with that of one of the poorest. Say
the word “Zardari” and the mind’s synonym is corruption. The return of the PPP
to power in 2008 resulted in the government withdrawing his corruption cases,
which were at the threshold of being successfully filed. Zardari had spent
eight years in jail. He was saved by ascension to power which opened the doors
to further acquisition. It is alleged that Zardari has £740 million in Swiss bank accounts as well as an
over £4 million mansion in Surrey and a $2.5 million manor in Normandy. No
objections can be raised if this incredible accumulation was legal. Prior to
marriage to Benazir, Zardari was a man of modest means, with the cleverness to
calculate the power of 10%.
That Zardari got away with this massive corruption
actually changed the psyche of the Pakistani nation. He took the sting out of
the concept of corruption, made it romantic almost, and horror of horrors
Pakistanis became immune to its illegitimacy and started to justify their own
at all levels-consciously and unconsciously.
Rod Blagojevich was Illinois governor from
2003-2009. In March 2012, Blagojevich began serving a 14-year sentence in
federal prison following conviction for corruption including the soliciting of
bribes for political appointments. He was charged with several “pay to play”
schemes in which he sold gubernatorial and legislative appointments to the highest
bidder. He was impeached in 2009. Blagojevich’s “pay to play” schemes sound so
Pakistani! Though, one must say, that Pakistani leaders give out business
contracts and massive commissions to family members and cronies and the nation
pays while they play!
It’s that magical kursi of Pakistan that turns
saints to satan. Military rule in Pakistan has seen the personal aggrandizement
of the army. Promotions are sweetened by gifts of plots of land. In her book
“Military Inc.” Ayesha Siddiqa writes that the army's private business assets
are worth around £10bn and it owns a handsome share of the country's business
and land.
Kwame Kilpatrick was mayor of Detroit from
2000-2008. In 2013 he was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for extorting
bribes from contractors who wanted Detroit city contracts. He steered $127
million in contracts to his friend and business partner, Bobby Ferguson. The
city of Detroit is the first in the nation to file bankruptcy. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds granted the
28-year term sought by prosecutors, who claimed Kilpatrick's racketeering,
bribery and extortion worsened the city's financial crisis as part of a
conspiracy that spent millions of taxpayer dollars. The sentence was intended
to send a message that corruption would not be tolerated and "that way of
business is over," Edmunds said.
The brothers Sharif and cronies’ corruption is as
massive as Kilpatrick’s if not more. And for all intents and purposes Pakistan
is bankrupt.
In a previous Sharif term, Salman Shahbaz imported
a Siberian leopard and nurtured it in an air-conditioned cage. All while the
students of Punjab studied in candlelight and numerous others died of gastroenteritis
and dehydration, unable to even get potable water or basic medical care in
hospitals.
True the Sharifs are businessmen. But doing
business with taxpayer money is a bit egregious. Zardari at least kept the 10%
commission premise to himself; the Sharifs have spread the goodness to members
of the PML-N. And, keeping up with inflation, the commission on mega-government
projects has risen to 30%. My fellow columnist Dr. Mansoor Hussain speaks of
the Sharif “lifafa largesse”; envelopes stuffed with large bills are spread
around to buy support and silence.
Pakistanis are treated, or tortured depending on
your inclination, by the information or allegations in Imran Khan and Tahirul
Qadri’s speeches. PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan states that their words have irretrievably
entered the hearts and minds of Pakistanis.
He acknowledges electoral rigging as well as the charges of massive
corruption. If only he would drop the Pakistani staple of covering over
illegality for some devious future personal purpose, Pakistan would be
delivered of this climate of deceit, collusion and subterfuge.
Religion and state should be separated. But Nawaz
Sharif is of the inshallah, mashaallah and subhanallah genre, so I must appeal
to his religiosity. You have the nerve to go to the flood stricken areas and
promise government help. What of their money that you and your cronies stole to
finance your luxurious lifestyles and more-expensive-than-Rolex watches?
Infrastructure to combat flooding takes years to
build. But tax-payer money was used to finance your mini-city Raiwind residence
and satisfy your gluttony for numerous varieties of nihari and mithai. Perhaps
a serious study of the early period of Islam and the scrupulous integrity of
the four khalifas and their selfless service to their people would be
instructive.
The PTI and PAT sit-ins have cramped your
lifestyle and your 30-strong delegations’ world trips to garner more lucrative
contracts. You and your coterie pay miniscule if any tax and pillage our
treasury to go for Umra, again with plane-loads of friends and family.
The foundation of democracy is integrity and
transparency. Khalifa Umar ibn Al-Khattab had to justify his use of two sheets when questioned
by a woman. He also said “do your own accounting before it is done for you”. If
there is a question of electoral rigging, if there is evidence of corruption
that has broken Pakistan, take the moral high road, resign and submit to
impartial investigation. According to the Islam that you love to tout, we must
be forgiven by those we have wronged before we can be forgiven by God. Help
yourself and your extended family; submit yourselves to investigation. It will
be infinitely easier to remediate in this world. And way too late and
unimaginable in the next.
