Corruption
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Westfield, IN
Imran Khan pulled a reasonably large crowd in Lahore last week against the alleged corruption of Sharif family. It was his last chance.The show had to be big enough to catch the media’s attention. Why? Over the last few months, his performance to draw people in joining the protests has dwindled.
The rally in Karachi was a disaster and before that people in smaller cities did not show much interest either. Among the party members, frustration and disappointment grew at a fast pace. Some of them, in a private meeting, even questioned his capability to lead. Mr Khan’s personal favorable ratings in the opinion polls dropped too, something that he always had bragged about, and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) lost every by-election lately, including those the party had won before.
The people of Lahore under these circumstances rejuvenated the whole movement and reignited the fervor. From the stage in Raiwind, he looked cheerful, satisfied, smiling and cracking jokes. And then quite expectantly he did what he should always abstain from doing: reverting to foul language, words that decent people do not like to use in their homes. Of course, I am going to omit them since I think you and I both deserve better! Anyway, he said:
"We are giving you (Nawaz Sharif) time until Muharram to present yourself for accountability. Your case is open and shut. If Pakistan's institutions do not act, we will not let you rule after Muharram,"
In just a few sentences, he summed up his whole political philosophy by raising the two most widely discussed issues: corruption and accountability. In the media too, it seems as though Pakistan’s economy trails behind because of these menaces. Poverty, lack of education, absence of health facilities, religious extremism, power shortage, law and order, in short, everything can be attributed either to one or both of them.
At a glance, the claims about financial irregularities and the absence of an effective judicial system may explain why we stand so far behind. But is it true? The answer is not that hard. But, it becomes very difficult to present as any challenge to the assertion is rejoined by a harsh personal attack: you are corrupt, a beneficiary of corruption, a stooge, a thug, an agent or an enemy of the state.
Sure, corruption cannot be condoned or exonerated, but I believe it is a symptom in itself of a deeper problem than being the cause of it. Even the injustice that pervades our society at every level and is unveiled as the root cause of the problems by PTI, does not explain our incapacity to succeed. It is just a reflection of a bigger issue.
The emerging data suggests that nations get rich first and then they overcome the problem of corruption, not the other way round. For instance, India, our next door neighbor, stands far ahead of us in economy and defense even though corruption penetrates its every department and organization. What is expected of it is that over the next couple of decades, India, as it grows richer, will reduce corruption by strengthening its systems.
The second argument is the misconception about injustice. We have been led to believe by the mainstream media, although indirectly, that justice is something the state being so resourceful can deliver but opt not to because it is run by corrupt and selfish rulers. Once an honest person comes into power, he will align all the evidence in order, present it to the courts, obtain a verdict and send all the criminal elements to jail, their assets liquified, their money channeled back to Pakistan.
To be honest, I have not come across a more misleading assumption than this one. Justice-philosophically, socially and politically-is hard to define and even harder to execute. It requires an army of experts: prosecutors, investigators, lawyers, judges and parliamentarians (yes they too!). We at the present, have got almost nothing. So, a person with the best of intentions cannot prove much in a court of law.
Remember General Musharraf? He went after the Sharif brothers and Asif Ali Zardari for years (with vengeance) and could prove nothing. For the last three-and-a-half years, PTI rules the KPK. How many verdicts has it secured from the courts? Zero. It has though re-inducted the same members into the cabinet that it initially kicked out on charges of corruption. Was it malice or a media gimmick? Neither.
It was the failure of whole system even when the best intentions were at work. The question is why. In my opinion, we fail the system much more than it fails us. It is our incapacity to believe in the democratic process, to trust politicians, to let them work independently. While the truth is that a persistent state of paranoia has cast a spell on our judgement. We look away from the parliament to solve the problems that it is supposed to resolve in the first place.
Every time, we get a chance to stand behind a non-elected actor to ‘clean up the system,’ we support him. Every time, we get an option to ditch the elected leader of the House, we deceive him. Every time, someone sneaks into power through conspiracies and unconstitutional means, he gets our full mandate. That is why dictators like General Musharraf get interviewed on mainstream media on regular basis and that is why he is daring enough to announce that we do not deserve democracy.
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