The Emperor and His Clothes
The Mehran Bank scandal continues to devour reputations in its oily, inky embrace. On May 31, 1994, the previously unassailable credibility of the President of Pakistan, Farooq Ahmad Leghari, become its latest casualty, accused by the Leader of the Opposition of being involved in a less-than-meets-the-eye land sale transaction supposedly structured by the now most infamous Habib, Yunus of Mehran (and Habib) Bank fame. The President was said to have received Rs. 15 million in two instalments of Rs. 7.5 million in September and November 1993, just prior to the General and Presidential Elections respectively, at Rs. 32,000.00 per acre a fair price for 531 acres of his ancestral land in D.G. Khan. As Kamran Khan has suggested there is a balance of Rs. 19,92,000.00 (almost Rs. 2 million) which seems to have been delivered in cash. For good measure, the PML (N) leader also castigated the President for spending Rs. 150 million (Rs. 180 million according to an aroused FPCCI) of the tax-payers money attending his son’s graduation in the States in what should have been a private visit and what in fact seems to have inadvertently become a semi-official junket with a lot of unnecessary frills thrown in.
The immediate reaction of the Government on both counts was predictable, bordering on hysteria. Not before 2-3 days had elapsed did present GoP’s spin-masters get their act together and a sustained “damage control” operation was initiated. Clearly on the defensive and stung by the accusations of his critics, the President produced documentary evidence to prove that the land sale was a genuine transaction. GoP machinery went into overdrive to show that the President’s official rounds in USA were in the greater interests of Pakistan and, therefore, reason enough to spend the tax payer’s money. There is no doubt that the dialogue with the US, at a crucial crossroads, had to be continued and the simultaneous visit of the Indian PM had to be countered. The President’s meeting with potential US entrepreneurs, particularly in the energy sector, was another plus point.
The First Cracks
Whose of us who were inclined to believe that this is a new PPP regime, chastened by their first experience at bad governance, determined to do good by their country, now see the first tell-tale signs appear on the edifice. While it is too early to render dire predictions of things likely to happen, there are certain indications in that direction which cannot go unnoticed and which seem to build up into a comprehensive design of wheels within a wheel, not divorced from the making of a quick buck. One does not see the blatant and ham-handed modus operandi of the first tenure, the perception of a hungry child wolfing down too much all at once, this time around the operating procedure seems to be much more suave and sophisticated. This is very much in keeping with the cunning of the brilliant election campaign against Mian Nawaz Sharif, a battle of the PPP’s organisation machine against the raw popularity among the masses of a basically untested political entity, where a dead heat in the number of votes cast (with a slight edge to the PML(N) and its allies) among the popular vote has been subsequently (and superbly) transformed into an electoral rout. While it does not reflect the political reality on the ground and does call into question the credibility of the democratic process as is being practiced in this country, it is now very much a fait accompli.
Governments are made or unmade on the policies that it annunciates and the way it goes about implementing them. However, what matters above all is the choice of individuals who will carry the torch. For the record, based on their respective manifestoes, there is no fundamental disagreement in the policies of the Government and the Opposition, the difference would be more in form of execution of these policies and the level of emphasis thereof rather than the substance. To implement its policies, the government has to employ people that it trusts and has confidence in, at the same time they should have a reputation for honesty and integrity. Above all, they must be free from controversies that are likely to hamper the intentions and objectives of the government. One important thing to note is that wrongdoing can only be attempted when key players are motivated by rampant greed or owe loyalty to individuals over and above the loyalty that they should owe to the institution that they are responsible for.