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Conscience and honour

The menace of corruption will not be scared away by the volume of rhetoric being blasted in its general direction. Given cancerous growth along with its deadly twin “nepotism”, society seems to have adjusted itself against their elimination. If the recent correspondence between the President and the Leader of the Opposition is to be believed we may yet see some high-profile moves in that direction, albeit we cannot shrug off the frustration that this initiative will most probably die a natural death in some Parliamentary Committee or the other as have many other initiatives attempted earlier. Skepticism aside, one lives in hope and why should mere mortals question the integrity of the President’s wisdom in consigning the responsibility of eradicating corruption to the National Assembly, an institution that seldom does anything substantive contrary to the wishes of vested interest, mainly its own?

The “Honour” system in the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) is devoted to inculcating the concept of self-accountability and bolstering the character thereof, must requirements in the leadership traits of the officers of the Army. The basic premise of “The Code” remains the building up of the conscience of the individual and underscores the fact that once responsibility is allocated, it is self-governing and may or may not be subject to supervision. An example of the self-accountable mechanism for the “Honour Code” was the mini-canteen in one corner of the Cadets Mess where one could purchase basic necessities simply by leaving money (or chits) as per the price marked on each item. Some cadets found their careers immediately terminated (“withdrawn” from the PMA) when they failed this simple test of honesty and integrity. This same system is in vogue during examinations where invigilators are seldom in evidence, it being left to the honour of the cadet not to cheat and to hand in his answer sheets at the correct time. “Black” traits such as lying, cheating or committing other criminal acts that bring the institution or the individual into disrepute pale before your being held as much accountable as the one perpetrating the act if you should fail to report it. For those brought up in the “public school” code of not bearing any witness against one’s compatriots (at the risk of being labelled a “sneak”), a very fine line divides duty and disloyalty. A cadet with “black” traits could conceivably go on to become a leader of men (and possibly of the Army itself as nearly happened to our detriment very recently) while you risk severe punishment if you failed to report your observations. In many ways this evoking of conscience “even to the peril of one’s friends and colleagues” is the acid test of character, pitting the concept of loyalty to an individual and a group against the higher loyalty due by an individual to society and to the nation. Of course there are those who use this excuse for their own ulterior purposes. The years of martial law and party-less democracy irretrievably damaged the cohesiveness that comes with democracy’s binding people of disparate origins and views into the melting pot of one society and nation. The divisive phenomena of loyalty to an individual or a clan (or a sect), and subsequently toleration (and even condonation) of his/her misconduct, now has preponderance over the general good of society and the nation, another important feature of the “Honour” system is exemplary punishment for those who bear “false witness”. In a society where merit has become suspect, in fact a disqualifier, the spreading of falsehood about an individual or a group assumes supreme importance over all other wrong-doings. The only means of advancement for those who have no merit is to vilify those with merit and thus knock them out of contention. This attribute is particularly synonymous with those having “intelligence” background where making up stories about one’s “enemies” or those in direct competition proliferates. The stakes being high individuals with merit are fair game for being targeted by the unscrupulous who may be in contention for higher rank. Such is their vicious foresight in “planning” that the present COAS almost became a victim of such falsehood. Such people still exist in the pipeline, they must never be spared, because their “black” character ensures that they will try again. Those with “intelligence” background having two star rank and upwardly mobile need to be particularly screened.

Nowhere is accountability more important than among the public servants. Public sector employees have a duty on behalf of the masses to ensure that the elected representatives do not defraud the people by misuse of office and appointment and vice versa in a mutual exercise of accountability. Unfortunately in Pakistan, as in many other developing countries, the elected representatives are looting the till in active connivance and support of the civil servants. That the men in uniform do not come directly into the “chain of cognizance” does not absolve them of this responsibility to their conscience and to the State. No institution can remain forever insular and sooner rather than later unscrupulous individuals take advantage of office and appointment to subvert and corrupt the system to their benefit in keeping with what is happening in the rest of the country. Such “banana republic” practices by a handful among our senior uniformed men has brought the Services into disrepute. When an environment of corruption and misdemeanour is endemic, honest and competent officers risk running afoul of current practices, either at the hands of the propaganda machine fuelled by the money and influence of the corrupt or vested interest having the means to spread disinformation and misinformation.

One of my personal heroes since 1965 is a serving Corps Commander who will retire next year because of age rather than service. A “Gibraltar Force” veteran, not only is the man courageous he has impeccable integrity and a humble, simple nature that belies both his rank and gruff exterior. Within his domain, what to talk about anyone doing any wrong, he will come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who shows any such inclination, the words “tolerate” or “condone” not being in his lexicon. But even this gentleman, whom I will always hold in the highest esteem and respect, sulked when I put into print the machinations and intrigues of one of his ex-colleagues, an outright rascal, even though he accepted that it was the truth and that he was also a victim. In contrast to the rascal’s spreading of falsehood and disinformation at will about his colleagues, particularly about the present COAS who was in direct competition for the post, my putting the truth about this man’s lies and his lying self was not appreciated, “after all ‘maligning’ a senior officer puts the Army into disrepute”. How information can be kept away from the masses in this global village escapes logic. This “conspiracy of silence” reflects the myopic attitude that has put us into an unholy mess, the tendency of good men to shy away from prosecuting evil because of a misplaced sense of duty or loyalty or honour or comradeship to the individual or to the institution or whatever, even though it may be reciprocated with a kick in the teeth as is the wont of all rascals. One acknowledges that things now seem to be changing, a Corps Commander is being sent home eight months early because of a misdemeanour, very slight by our normal standards of nepotism, corruption and misuse of authority. Maybe justice is not entirely extinct after all, excellent for the Army but can this institution remain insulated in self-accountability from the rest of the country?

One of the major reasons for the institution of the “honour system” is that the Army relies on its leaders through the broad spectrum to fulfil their obligations without supervision, e.g. a young officer leading a fighting patrol to gain information about the enemy is supposed to physically confirm his findings about the enemy strength, his disposition and weapon placements, not to sit in a safe place and make up a story, the consequences of which can be tragic. The scope of responsibility increases with rank on a proportional basis, it becomes crucial at the level of two star rank and above as one cannot remain immune from what is happening in the nation. As much as any common citizen concerned with the destiny of the country, responsibility towards the State cannot be absolved by the veneer of not being in the “chain of cognizance”. What good is it to ask the newly incepted cadets of the Academy to adhere to an “honour code” when one proceeds to ignore the present realities of nepotism and corruption on a much larger scale as one reaches near the pinnacle of rank possible? What is greater, loyalty to the individual, to a Party or to the State? Indeed that is a question for all who give their leaders (or superiors) unstinted support in the face of naked evidence of their blatant nepotism and corruption, to answer.

Nobody in his right mind would incite or recommend a mutiny or a revolt but superiors must be held accountable by their subordinates and colleagues for their failure to take cognizance of misdemeanour when it concerns the integrity and security of the nation. What has happened to the “Morale Military” and “Morale Civilians” columns in the “Monthly Security Intelligence Report” (MSIR), is it being written off as NTR (Nothing to Report) as usual? Officers should have the courage to correctly report not only what their command but also their civilian associates and friends actually feel and believe. Those who think that the brutal rape of the economy of the country does not compromise national security and they can remain oblivious are either naive or dumb or even more dangerous, both. Those with conscience had better stand up and be counted with respect to accountability or be discarded as “men of straw” who believe in putting the fate of the country subservient to both their honour and personal fortune.

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