Crunch Time
That this military regime has been able to manage good governance as much as a basically corrupt system will allow without the formal declaration of martial law is no mean achievement. Yet in not being able to bring the Bhutto-Zardari combine and the Sharifs to justice as promised at the beginning of their tenure, the Musharraf government have managed to resurrect the fortunes of those who should have been politically dead and gone. The eloquent official waxing about our present rosy situation notwithstanding, what we have today is a political morass without great future for the country. Economically, we are far better off than on Oct 12, 1999, sound reforms and Sep 11 combining with really good monetary policies of the State Bank of Pakistan to provide a good base for economic resurgence.
Living in a glass house, the Choudhry Shujaats of this world do need the discretion of a front man, relatively clean (but nevertheless a nonentity outside of Lahore) Azhar is custom-built to take the heat, and if the electoral manipulation being blatantly done by the civil administration succeeds, odds – on favorite to be our next PM. Is this what Pakistan deserves? All the print and electronic media (barring PTV) have confirmed that the Choudhrys of Gujrat have Tariq Aziz as a friend, obviously he carries greater clout than Lt Gen Hamid Javed, the other Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief Executive. It is no secret that Tariq Aziz kept National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cynosure away from the Choudhrys. If Tariq Aziz was a corrupt, inefficient person, this would have been logical, but he is essentially a good man with misplaced loyalty to his friends superceding what should be responsibility and commitment to the people of Pakistan. That unfortunately happens to be Pakistan’s major problem in every level and strata of society, whether one is in politics, judiciary, the Armed Forces, civil administration, business, etc. nepotism and favouritism is always far more important than what one owes to the nation.
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.
Breakdown of a City
A fortnight of rain devastation has made Karachi into a city under internal siege, beset by electricity and water problems. As the civic infrastructure collapsed past the point of overload, irate citizens have been protesting violently in front of KESC and KWSB sub-units. A gradual erosion of civic discipline over the past few weeks has been manifest in the masses venting their increasing frustration on a whole range of issues on the more visible and immediate causes leading to their present misery. On Friday July 22, 1994, a massive power shutdown paralysed most of the Province of Sindh for over six hours, some areas in Karachi came on line after 24 hours in some cases. Worse was to follow! On Saturday July 23, 1994, a “flash” led to a fire in the Gizri Grid Station blacking out almost the entire South of Karachi. Many areas (including this scribe) are still without electricity or water for over 48 hours later despite Herculean efforts by the KESC to effect emergency repairs. Not to be outdone in compounding the situation, anti-State forces, ever ready to fan ethnic and religious disturbances, lobbed a grenade into a bus, killing eight and wounding many others. But for the presence of mind of the bus driver, who drove the carnage vehicle straight to a hospital, the casualty list would have been much higher.
The power shutdown symbolically represents a greater breakdown psychologically, that of the social and economic fabric of the nation. As the civic facilities go past the fail-safe line, the seething frustration of the masses is coming to a boil. While all this was fairly predictable, the shocking aspect of the whole affair seems to be that nobody seems to be incharge of this great port city, the economic lifeline to the nation. Indeed despite Ms Benazir’s best efforts, there seem to be a crisis of leadership in the entire country. As far as Karachi is concerned, the Sindh CM seems to have abdicated responsibility. Since the elected Mayor and his councillors have been largely sidelined, a grey area exists between the civil administration and the LEAs. The LEAs are responsible for law and order problems but the civil administration is adrift for the most part, responding half-heartedly to both the political and military leadership, unsure as to whom to turn for central direction. The tragedy is that no single entity exists to organise and coordinate civic relief to the masses of Karachi, whether in crisis or normal times. During the rain devastation the civil administration was totally dependant upon individual dedication and initiative rather than any coordinated, cohesive countering of the catastrophe. In modern cities, a central CRISIS CONTROL automatically takes over most of the TV and radio time to give directions (and relief) to the public, here PTV remained an oblivious bystander, giving only passing mention to the unfolding tragedy. Over a 100 lives have been lost in Karachi due to the unprecedented rains and related problems, why is the administration sitting on its haunches, if not its hands?
A Mature Exercise with Credit to Both Businessmen and Govt
In response to the tough conditions imposed in the proposals for the Federal Budget, the nation’s business community observed a token two-day’s strike throughout the country. The protest was largely successful and remained peaceful. Transport plied normally, banks remained open and small businesses such as restaurants, bakeries, pan shops, medical stores, etc., were not affected. On the government’s part, except for some ludicrous attempts at disinformation and the occasional threat, there were no real ham-handed attempts to break the strike call. Within the limits imposed on its credibility parameters, Pakistan TV grudgingly acknowledged the success of the strike. All in all, this was a very mature exercise on which credit must go to both the sides, the businessmen in maintaining unity in registering its protest in a civilised manner and GoP for restraining its normally more baser urges. Notwithstanding the open-ended provocative threat made by the PM the night before the two-day strike, the expected bite did not follow.