Political orphans

For nine long years, the Chaudhries of Gujrat, have ruled and plundered Punjab, courtesy Musharraf's illegitimate and unconstitutional rule. Pakistan's tragedy has been the continuous domination of this country by uniformed mediocrity, with their penchant for amassing wealth overnight and the patronisation of a culture where rampant corruption was considered kosher for those who supported the junta.
This phenomenon is not new to the subcontinent, where the British bought the loyalties of the locals to prolong their colonial Raj for over 200 years. What we have failed to realise is that when such rampant corruption is resorted to, by the rulers of a sovereign independent state, than the first casualty is national security and sovereignty. Zia's military rule gave birth to a rise in extremism, sectarian and ethnic divides, while his cronies made billions by pilfering financial and military aid for the covert operations. Another major factor is the total lack of any credible accountability system, something that continues to encourage corruption even today.
The biggest collaborators in corruption are the civil and military bureaucracy in this country and the few political orphans, who come out of their holes whenever the boots march to capture Islamabad.
Pervaiz Elahi has ruled Punjab for almost seven years during the Musharraf junta. He and his family has been party to every financial scam which was managed by the help of his former Chief Secretary and few others. The fiasco in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan became a bonanza for corruption. Individuals benefited, but the country has lost and today our national sovereignty is at stake.
The very people that were trained to fight the Soviets have come back to haunt us, because the very decision to engage Pakistan to the extent that it was done by Zia, was bad for the state in the long run. Regimes in Pakistan have deliberately put at stake our national sovereignty to seek foreign help to prolong their tenures. The country has suffered massively and it is time to hold accountable all those, be they politicians or members of the civil or khaki bureaucracy.