Accountability across the board, really?

Head of PPP Media Cell
Accountability and discrimination are anathema to each other. They must not be followed in tandem because one swallows the other without whimper and vice versa. Accountability in Pakistan has been deplorably misnomer or notional because of its unfair and discriminatory application. As a matter of fact, it has reduced to a hoax in the name of virtue. It's across the board enforcement has remained a forlorn hope. Sometimes it was pursued to intimidate the political opponents. Other times, it was used as a tool of tyrannical political victimisation on behalf of the civilians and dictators alike. Yet other times, its undertakers unleashed it to intimidate the lawmakers to nudge them to join the 'King's Party' else be prepared to face torture and humiliation of the worst kind. The only exception was the PPP erstwhile government where there was not even a single political prisoner.
Today, NAB and Rangers have suddenly sprung into action and presenting the cases of corruption in the courts of law with a degree of frequency and urgency. The filing of references against the bureaucrats, politicians and others who had allegedly embezzled public money, or misused authority to favour individuals or group of individuals or received kickbacks while negotiating public transactions. Allegations cannot and should not be shoved aside when the evil is so rampant in all walks of national life. Common perception of this proficiency is generally attributed to the tacit support from the quarters who are keen to see that corrupts are brought to the book because corruption and terrorism are intimately linked and that nexus needs to be broken as a part of the counter-terrorism strategy.
The arrest of Dr Asim Hussain, a PPP leader, from Karachi on the charges of facilitating the terrorists is the case in point. PPP protested it as the worst kind of political victimisation but he was still in the custody of the Rangers for investigations. NAB arrested Qasim Zia, ex-president of PPP Punjab, on charges of fraud. Another leader of PPP from Sindh was also convicted by the Accountability Court and the PPP co- chairman accused the government of revisiting the politics of ninety's because the campaign was confined against the party in general and in the province of Sindh in particular. But, PPP leaders were not allowed to go scot-free who were facing the cases determined to defend themselves in the courts. The Sindh government has been crying foul as Rangers were stepping in the domain that was out of the ambit of their responsibilities. But, they are not paying any attention to the provincial government and its writ is withering away incrementally. But, this bellicose will not augur well at the end of the day because this tendency is not sustainable for being at the expense of the elected government of the province.
The litmus test of the juggernaut will be the NAB's action against the chairman LDA in LDA City scam in which five land developers had amassed Rs16 billion from the people whereas the land acquisition measuring up to the money collected was yet a distant cry. The DG, NAB, according to the media reports, has stated that the investigations would start very soon as why the private companies were allowed to use the name of the government's agency to lure the people to risk their life time savings in the scheme. The other bigger scam is the appropriation of local bodies' funds by the Punjab government amounting to staggering Rs200 billion and the Auditor General had judged the expenditures as invalid and money so spent remained so for want of reconciliation. Such report is required to be submitted in the provincial assembly but the chief minister has been sitting on this report for the last two years, according to the opposition leader. It is required to be presented to the provincial assembly as stipulated under the Rules of Business.
The taking up of the one case, LDA City, by the NAB on pro-active basis may address the issue of discriminatory pursuit of cases by NAB to a degree. The debate by the provincial assembly on the audit report will be equal to accountability by the representative forum for being as a custodian of the public money. Such parliamentary practices should be welcomed because the Executive arm of the provincial government should not be given the privilege to fiddle with public money with impunity.
Raza Rabbani, Senate Chairman and the Opposition Leader Syed Khurshid Shah have recently underscored the importance of accountability across the board adding there should be no sacred cows in Pakistan. They were referring to the accountability drive that was on track only against the politicians implying why bureaucrats, army generals and judges were exempted. They warned that the dehumanisation of the politicians should stop forthwith that had been launched prima fasciae on purpose. With their admonishment the political system gets weakened and anti-people forces get strengthened with deleterious consequences on the political system as a whole. Politicians are respectable people 'who gave atom bomb to Pakistani nation and the Constitution' and therefore they should be held in the matching esteem instead of unleashing insidious and malicious campaign against them at the behest of anti-democratic forces. But, they were not pleading for those public figures that were guilty. They were rather underscoring the importance of the due process of law and on the indiscriminate pursuit of the accountability.
There should be no sacred cows resisting accountability by the state or by the elected representatives of the people. The assertion of the effectiveness of the internal system of accountability raises the question of transparency which is an important component of the whole process. But, we have seen in many instances the accused got scot-free without facing the consequences of their Himalayan wrong doings. The dictators who suspended or abrogated the Constitution of the country were never punished. The Article 6 of the Constitution, though sacrosanct, remained inconsequential by and large. The present Army Chief General Raheel Sharif took the culprits of the institution to task and punished the senior army officers who used their authority and incurred huge financial losses to the public exchequer. It is exception and indeed commendable. The earlier army chiefs did not take action despite the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament's strong recommendations to the effect. These cases were repeatedly discussed in the media clearly implying that the law of the land has no spine before the powerful. It was deemed as poor reflection on the institution explicitly reflecting it was above law. This impression of the institution cannot be appreciated for being incongruous with the stature of a disciplined security force. This aspect has been taken care of by the incumbent military leadership and as such the restoration of the prestige of the army in the eyes of the people is not misplaced.
In the civilian domain, the situation is worse and beyond recognition. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in his recent press conference publicly admitted the royal mess adding Pakistan was a difficult country to govern. Corruption, misuse of authority, nepotism and favoritism's instances were abounding in every sphere of life in our society. The resultant political and economic mess has taken their toll in the shape of miserable demographic indicators prevalent in the country. The media eloquently reports the cases of misgovernance, kickbacks, commissions and conflict of interests but the frenzy is going on unabatedly with impunity. The fear of legal consequences is not there because the law can be conveniently defeated through the power of wealth and political clout. The use of these instruments have become normal than exception. Sadly, this is also accepted by the society. You go to any office you will find the crooks sitting in each corner watching you with bland faces only to glow when you oil their palm. They push you to the limits to compromise your honesty and enter the Augean stable not for its cleaning.
Now the question is as what to do with the royal mess? The suggested answer is -- root out corruption in its all forms and manifestations with political will backed by unequivocal commitment. Zero tolerance for corruption is critical for socio-economic development of the people. It must not be tolerated any more if we want to give decent living conditions to the citizenry. Parliament is the best forum to address the menace of corruption because without the political support of all shades the menace will refuse to go away for all times to come. All the institutions should be made accountable to the Parliament which is the sole voice of the people and mother of all institutions. Accountability over and above the Parliament will never bear fruits on durable basis. Every institution should work within its domain and the tendency of stepping in other's domain should be discouraged. Parliamentary oversight committees should be energised for the transparent implementation and scrutiny of the public policies. Parliament should be made and accepted as the singular lynchpin of the whole operation which is its constitutional obligation. Domination of one institution ultimately becomes the bane of democracy and constitutionalism which is the least desirable thing for a nation to happen. Parliament is above all other institutions and should be accepted as such holistically. Undoubtedly, parliamentary process is painfully slow but it is the right path that will surely lead to the realisation of the goals of collective destiny as envisioned by the founding father.
"A lay man who keeps the right path outstrips the runner who takes the wrong path" Francis Bacon.
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com