The Curse of Corruption
Despite the excellent work being done by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), corruption is alive and well and prospering in Pakistan. Unlike Saifur Rahman’s Ehtesab Bureau (EB) which targeted only the real or perceived enemies of Saif’s mentor or Saif himself, mostly not in that order, NAB has established a reputation for being even-handed even though sometimes they can be ham-handed. As the NAB Chief has himself acknowledged, where the target was not politically motivated EB did some good work. In balance EB failed because it differentiated between friend and foe in holding only foes accountable. The public perception about NAB is that they are going about their business without fear or favour though it is unfortunate that the “physicians have been restrained the healing either themselves or the judiciary”. This restriction undercuts the absolute credibility NAB badly needs and for that matter, deserves. However something is better than nothing, the already beggared can hardly be choosers, one’s only recourse is to be satisfied with whatever crumbs are thrown one’s way, at least a few of the infamous are being held accountable. Amjad has lived upto the reputation he arrived with to establish NAB, that in itself is a very positive sign. The character and integrity of leadership of any entity must not only be above question, it must be genuinely and universally admired to be of support to the ultimate purpose of its existence, in this case accountability with credibility.
Whether it is NAB or any other accountability unit, its effectiveness is only as potent as the integrity of its personnel, especially its lead managers and investigators. Unfortunately entities tend to misuse the military’s determination to wipe out corruption for their own nefarious purposes. Let us take the example of the 1000 or so CBR people dismissed by the Government. First of all, the purge was weighted in favour of the senior CBR personnel, the fact is that most of the corruption is at the top. Yet 850 of the 1000 suspended were class 3 employees, making a pittance for their own pockets compared to those in the upper echelon. And except for a handful of notorious cases among the senior CBR personnel, the rest were those generally without any “connection”. In the meantime, the corrupt thrive on the strength of this cleansing, they now have an open cheque to loot the country. The disappointment among the more honest CBR personnel was double, shock at seeing some genuinely honest persons among the “death” list, frustration as well as confusion at the very known corrupt surviving the axe. The question one asks, why was this cleansing operation muddied? And by whom? “Why” we can easily answer, to frustrate the process of accountability in CBR, “by whom” is more difficult.
