Ruling party members also praise Gen Raheel’s statement

Army chief wins hearts of Pakistanis on Zarb-e-Azb; all institutions must play role under law

News Analysis 

ISLAMABAD: The statement of Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif stressing the need for across the board accountability evoked positive response from some politicians, belonging to ruling as well as opposition parties, and some journalists during TV debates on Tuesday. They cautiously welcomed the statement and termed it positive.

 The past history of our country is full of such statements by civilian leaders or generals, who came to power acted according to their own agenda and their earlier claims proved hollow. People had seen contradictions in what they said and what they did time and again. That is why such statements by anyone create questions in minds of people.

No doubt with the permission of the government General Raheel launched Zarb-e-Azb operation against terrorists. The army under Gen Raheel won the hearts of not only Pakistanis but people across the globe. The world acknowledged the services of Pakistan’s army chief, who have become popular as a general the world over. Some people even say Pakistan has not seen such a general in the past.

A commentator on a channel said like all other people in the country Gen Raheel is also concerned over the prevalent corruption and its negative impact. “So he said what he felt like all of us.”

Another commentator said Gen Raheel has played his role in strengthening the democratic system in the country.

In a country where NROs are signed, accountability institutions are used to press politicians only to make them fall in-line and to make deals with the political parties, the talk of across-the-board accountability appears shallow.It seems strange that those who signed NROs, make deals with accused persons when the cases were about to prove in the courts talk of accountability. In a strange twist of the events, at times, one signatory of the notorious National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) demands ruthless accountability of the other signatory and that too for the cases which were closed or were made weaker because of this corruption-friendly law. 

Very few people remember that what had happened with the alleged corruption cases against top PPP leadership in 2006 and 2007 and what steps army government of General Musharraf had taken to destroy accountability infrastructure in the country. 

General Musharraf government had released senior PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari following a deal with the party through friendly prosecution after many years of detention in cases which could never be proved against him. 

As investigation into alleged corruption cases against top PPP leadership including Zardari was near completion, Musharraf government ordered closure of the special cell headed by Hasan Waseem Afzal, probing these cases under the same deal.

All independent analysts including seasoned and professional retired army officials admit that NAB was mostly used for political victimization during regime of General Musharraf. Finally to save his rule, Musharraf promulgated infamous and shameful National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) giving amnesty to all those allegedly involved in corruption and corrupt practices. The same NRO badly impacted many genuine and strong cases which were under investigation in NAB and resulted in complete destruction of accountability institution and overall accountability process in the country. 

Later by sacking and detaining Supreme Court judges through his November 3, 2007 emergency, which he imposed in his capacity as Chief of Army Staff, General Musharraf ensured that apex court could not set aside NRO and all corruption cases could be properly closed. It must be kept in mind that investigation into these cases was already stopped in early 2007 and almost all evidences, if any, were destroyed. 

Past record proves that accountability of those allegedly involved in corruption cannot be successfully carried out by pinpointing only a few persons or one or two specific parties. All experts admit that a real accountability has to be across the board. It is also a fact that when institutions directly involve themselves in politics and NROs are signed resulting in collapse of whole accountability system, no real accountability can be expected until the system is revamped and made stronger and impartial to carry out ruthless across-the-board accountability. Accountability institutions made weaker through NROs can never start performing well all of a sudden. At times, some retired general of Musharraf regime also demand accountability of the corrupt. It is interesting that one signatory of 2007 NRO demands accountability of the other signatory. The corruption complaints registered during previous PPP regime could not be probed merely because of consequential impacts of NRO. The news accountability law is being drafted which will also ensure accountability of all those who looted and plundered Pakistan during regime of General Musharraf. 

Corruption mantra has always been used to attack and discredit political governments. Democratic setups have been toppled or weakened by demanding accountability of the corrupt at times when it cannot be done because of the wrongs created by unlawful regimes. Interestingly, it is always done at a time when Pakistan start progressing, moving in a right direction and start cleaning the mess created during dictatorship regimes. 

Some major corruption cases were quietly closed recently by awarding nominal punishment to those involved and NAB or any other independent agency was never allowed to probe mighty people. All such biased approaches must be given up so that a strong and impartial system of across-the-board accountability may be established. Accountability is a must for real progress and for moving Pakistan ahead but it is only possible with the continuity of the system. There have been great complaints of corruption against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and allegations were made against it during last four decades. Almost all governments of PPP were toppled on the grounds of corruption or wrongdoings. However, PPP always succeeded in maintaining its vote bank across the country except when it was given full five years tenure from 2008 to 2013. 

The PPP failed to deliver during this tenure because of bad governance and there were many allegations of corruption. This resulted in almost wiping out of party’s vote bank from most parts of the country. No doubt there are complaints of corruption and these are genuine in many cases. The existing system has many flaws but it can proceed to investigate any such complaints without any help from any side. If the system will not proceed, there is parliament, political parties, opposition and the media which will take on decision makers for not proceeding in the right direction. This is how the systems develop and become mature. All institutions are supposed to play their role which is defined for them in the law and the constitution. The system starts deteriorating only when some institutions try to play any role which is not their defined professional role. If the present system will fail to proceed against corruption allegation surfaced after Panama Papers, the media will highlight this fact and the people of Pakistan will vote out those responsible for negligence and will bring better people in power in 2018 general elections. The people’s verdict can never be wrong.