Right to govern compromised

The Panama Leaks are now the topic of the day everywhere, and the revelations, particularly about politicians, are attracting public attention in countries with "democratic" dispensations. In the EU, worried politicians are contemplating laws whereby multi-national corporations operating in Europe will be required to declare their earnings in each member state of this 28-nation bloc.
Reason: big corporations are suspected of secretly shifting their profits from the EU markets to low tax jurisdictions, often using shell companies, to avoid paying taxes in the countries where they operate. Doing so, they deprive the EU member states of tax revenue, which is forcing expenditure cuts that are pushing-up the poverty line in these countries.
In Australia (with over 800 entities exposed by the Panama Leaks), efforts are on to strengthen the powers of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information & Collaboration (JITSIC) network of the OECD, to decide how OECD member states can pool the data on fund movement, and work together to nab the movers of black wealth to the "tax heavens".
In Pakistan, the picture is entirely different; the PML-N government ministers are focused on proving that the Prime Minister (PM) and his family members did nothing illegal by owning off-shore companies and that these leaks are a "conspiracy" against the PM and his family members but, not surprisingly, don't identify the entity or entities behind this conspiracy.
The first desperate response to the Panama Leaks was removal of the asset details of the parliamentarians from the Election Commission's (EC) website although, Representation of People Act 1976 Section 42(A) and Senate Election Act 25(A) require the parliamentarians to declare to the EC every year the assets owned by them, their spouses, and their dependants.
This data for 2013 and 2014 was earlier available on the EC's website to fulfil the legal requirement of public disclosure of parliamentarians' assets; the EC's explanation for removing this data from its website was that this data will now be published in the official gazette -a practice that wasn't adopted earlier nor the reason for adopting it now was explained.
Neither is there a move to revise the Protection of Economic Reforms Act passed during the 1992 PML-N regime giving Pakistanis residing in Pakistan and abroad, as well as "all other persons" the freedom to transfer foreign exchange funds abroad without filing a declaration, and also exempting them from inquiry by taxation authorities about the source of those funds.
Even the stunning revelations by the Governor SBP in his March 24 speech at the FPCCI about over-payment of import transactions and reduced foreign exchange inflows against export shipments that pointed to flight of capital and artificially inflated the trade deficit and external borrowing needs, went unnoticed by our politicians, NAB, the FBR, and the Federal Finance Minister.
Focus of the in-power politicians (PPP and PML-N leadership) is on saving "democracy" because it assures them remaining in power and making an ever-bigger mess of the country in pursuit of their aims - cronyism, and self-enrichment via corruption. That such democracy never delivered a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" doesn't bother them.
The refusal of reputed retired senior judges to head the PM's "promised" inquiry commission clearly indicates that, with the PPP and PML-N in power, such a commission won't be able to verify the charges on the PM and his family and dispense justice - reality that mandates a regime change to ensure a comprehensive and impartial inquiry into the Panama Leaks.
Is it fair for the federal government (with its minister defending the PM and his family against charges of money laundering) to draft the Terms of Reference for its inquiry commission, and given Asif Zardari's track record, can the parliamentary commission demanded by the PPP credibly inquire into the allegations against the PM's family members?
The horrifying side-effect of focus on protecting those guilty of tax-evasion and flight of capital (steadily impoverishing Pakistan, as portrayed by its skyrocketing public debt) is shifting of attention away from the other developing scenarios that will adversely impact the economy and further erode the integrity of the troubled in-power politicians. Not a day passes without revealing mismanagement or use of corrupt practices in state offices - trend that is engulfing the state in and ever-bigger imbroglio that is rapidly corroding whatever is left of the regime's credibility. Natural calamities -already pushing thousands into a variety of miseries -will make things more difficult for the in-power politicians.
As the climate warms up, heavy snowfall in the Northern provinces last winter and an unending rain spell thereafter could cause massive water flow in the river system and flooding on a large scale because, after each devastating flood, dredging of the river and canal beds and upping the height of their banks to prevent the next tragedy, took places mostly on paper.
The 2015 heat-wave caused hundreds of deaths in and Sindh because the provincial regime took no pre-emptive steps to minimize that tragedy. Lack of space in Karachi's graveyards for burying the dead exposed another fraud - graveyard land being allotted for building houses. This year while the summer could be hotter than 2015, health services, as witnessed daily, are in a far worse state.
Besides the impending heat-wave, drinking water shortage in cities like Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, let alone Thar, will worsen despite higher water flow in the rivers because, for decades, the underground pipeline network wasn't replaced. Proof: flooding of many localities because corroded pipelines burst frequently, and disrupt water supply for weeks.
Since the police force was corrupted to serve the ends of the politicians and criminal gangs run by their cronies, the Army and Rangers had to nab criminals-an unforgivable failure of the in-power regime. In Balochistan, KPK, and Sindh, prolonged Army-led operations smashed the criminal gangs, though they keep surfacing occasionally to commit terrorist acts that kill the innocent.
However, courtesy its government's soft corner for criminals, Punjab suffered no major tragedy until March this year, which allowed the CM to claim that Punjab had zero "no go" areas and avoid an Army-led clean-up operation. This deception that was exposed by the Punjab Police's abject failure in capturing the "Chhotu Gang" without the Army's help - institution that scares the PML-N.
Despite turning Pakistan into a mess, its politicians are engaged in a mud-slinging contest wherein their claims are focused on confusing the masses; telling the truth isn't on the cards. Put together, this portrays a horrible image of our in-power politicians because they are doing everything except managing the affairs of the state in a responsibility-conscious manner. What makes it worse is the fact that, despite their horrifying record of governance, they insist that their accountability will derail democracy. For the in-power politicians it is time to accept that their right to govern has been compromised - a reality that our courts, FIA, NAB and the regulators couldn't establish, but thanks to the Panama Leaks that convincingly established this reality.