Is the land of the five rivers taint-free?

Islamabad diary
Are all of Pakistan’s rotten eggs to be found in Karachi alone? Dr Asim Hussain made a name for himself in the field of high finance. There’s no going around this awkward fact. But are there no high finance champions in the land of the five rivers?
Those whom we call political big shots today, what was their net worth when Gen Zia and Governor Jillani – in the direction of whose grave, if they had any sense of obligation, they should be bowing every day – led them by the finger and from nowhere turned them into front-rank politicians? And how much are they worth today? And if their fortunes have ballooned, is it because they are Pakistan’s answer to Bill Gates? Or were other factors involved in their (meteoric) financial rise and rise?
Reacting to one of the accusations in Asif Ali Zardari’s recent statement that Ishaq Dar, now finance tsar, in a moment of weakness had given a confessional statement regarding the ruling family’s involvement in money laundering, one of the family’s long-time legal eagles has angrily denied the charge and said that the matter had been brought to final closure before the Lahore High Court. That may be so, and much may be said on this subject.
But the question to the legal eagle: did Mr Dar ever, in a moment of weakness or in a revelatory mood, give a confessional statement about money-laundering before a duly-accredited magistrate? Yes or no? Simple question…deserves a simple answer.
The tides of accountability are washing the shorelines of Karachi. First the MQM squealed and now it is the PPP’s turn. At the altar of ‘reconciliation’ – some drama that was – the PPP had lost the use of its tongue. Finally, thanks to the Ranger’s operation, the heat from which is scorching its wings, the PPP is finding its voice again. In this mood of rediscovered resolve, came the money-laundering charge–-frothily countered by the first family’s legal counsel. What happens between the PPP and the PML-N is their business. What concerns the public is the credibility of the Karachi operation.
People of Karachi, by and large, have welcomed it. Because of it the Karachi landscape has dramatically changed, the shadows of fear falling away. But if the long arm of accountability remains confined to Karachi alone – and the rolling cascade of skeletons in the locked cupboards of Punjab, their locks gone rusty and their keys thrown away, are not exhumed and examined – the cry will go up, as it has so often in Pakistan’s chequered history, that the march of justice is once again bypassing the holy land of the five rivers.
Financial birds always cover their tracks. Examine the books of the most rapacious robber barons and everything will be in perfect order. That is what, among other pious deeds and acts of virtue, chartered accountants and clever lawyers are meant for – to ease the path, in this life, of the rapacious. There was a time when the better sort of lawyers took some care not to represent transparent rogues. Like much else in these moneyed times – when money is king and everything else takes a back seat – that antique distinction has disappeared.
Look at today’s top lawyers. For all the lectures on morality and rule of law they give the nation from time to time – in seminars on human rights and rule of law lawyers can be so moving and eloquent as to make you weep – it’s an everyday sight to see them not only representing but sweating, above and beyond the call of duty, for their moneyed clients.
The PPP’s alleged corruption was an open book, its leading troubadours seldom caring to cover their tracks adequately. That’s one reason for the PPP’s undoing: its leaders were honest about their corruption. On the other side of the fence, however, right from the Zia years till today we’ve seen professionals at work – tracks covered and no clues, or very few, left for anyone to piece together.
But there are some open secrets and why aren’t they being touched? What about the Qatar gas deal? Why is there so much hugger-mugger about it? Does anyone have the details? Every now and then the energy minister comes up with an opaque explanation which only further confuses the issue.
The Lahore and Islamabad metros would get the international prize for hideousness if there was one. The money spent on them, the favoured contractors…if anything deserves a close audit it is this. Who is behind the move to grab the 1200 acres in the control of the National Agricultural Research Council and turn it into a housing estate? The Supreme Court has finally taken suo motu notice of this scandal. Otherwise, despite all the agitation in the press, the CDA (the capital’s apology of a development agency), with backing from above, appeared bent on going ahead with it.
What about that most ancient of ghosts, the Asghar Khan case? The ISI taking money from a private banker, keeping half of the amount for itself, and distributing the remainder among a select group of politicians…can there be a bigger scandal than this? And yet, despite the Supreme Court’s explicit instructions that action be taken against all involved, a conspiracy of silence continues to be woven around it.
A former army chief, an ISI chief, the present prime minister, the chief minister Punjab, and some other luminaries and not a few icons of public morality, figure in this saga. And what are they accused of? That these bigwigs, all moneyed men, presuming to lead this hapless nation, received money in attaché or suit cases from ISI messengers. Before being prosecuted for corrupt practices, these saviours of the nation should be held to account for poor behaviour and bad taste.
Imagine some of the deepest pockets in Pakistan receiving 5 lakhs, 10 lakhs, in one instance 22 lakhs, in another 33 lakhs, courtesy the ISI. This is the worth our leaders put on themselves. This is the level of our politics and the level of our leaders.
The Model Town firing incident – 14 dead, including two women, scores wounded as a result of police firing – also beats the imagination. Justice has fallen silent as far as this affair is concerned. At what stage is the investigation and what is the status of the cover-up? Justice Ali Baqar Najafi’s report has been consigned to the dark.
The Karachi apex committee, with the corps commander sitting in it, is the driving force behind the Karachi operation. But for the muscle and the psychological support from there nothing we’ve seen in Karachi would have happened. Isn’t there an apex committee in Lahore? And if there is, how come its eyes are closed as far as the Model Town affair is concerned? Or does the massacre of innocent people in cold blood not fall in the ambit of cases worth exploring?
Or maybe it is a matter of time. When the army went into North Waziristan most of us thought that it would be so tied up there that it would be able to do nothing about Karachi. But then Karachi’s brand of terrorism was tackled too, the entire spectrum covered – from Lyari to 90 and from there to Bilawal House.
So let’s up keep our fingers crossed. Does this operation remain confined to Karachi or does it cross the great divide between the valley of Mehran and the land of Ali Hajveri? Only when it goes forward will the scales fall from doubting eyes.
Email: bhagwal63@gmail.com