Our Augean stables

The way Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah turned his fury the other day on federal agencies, threatening to throw them out of his province, it seemed they had violated some provincial prerogative. The cause of his rage, it emerged, was that the NAB people had briefly arrested his party colleague, former information minister Sharjeel Memon, accused in a Rs 5 billion corruption scandal, upon return from about two-year long self-exile. Memon himself summoned a news conference to vent his anger and complain that although he had returned after obtaining a protective bail from Islamabad High Court, he was detained by NAB officials in plainclothes without introducing themselves, and taken to their headquarters. He also said though that he was treated politely and released upon showing them the bail orders.
This is a country where an ordinary accused when nabbed by an investigation agency is beaten up first and asked questions later. So why get all worked up over a little show of disrespect for someone declared an absconder by a Karachi accountability court this January although he had come to appear before the court? According to Memon, he was being subjected to political victimisation at the behest of the ruling Nawaz League. Needless to say, like any other accused he is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. If well-informed commentators are to be believed the return, however, is the result of a compromise deal - 'muk-muka' in PTI's parlance. The rants against the Sharif government hence are a mere put-on. What lends weight to the suspicion is the manner in which the accountability system is controlled and used by the ruling party. The NAB is employed as a tool to exonerate those who are willing to play ball with it. Take the example of an opposition party leader allegedly involved in various longstanding cases of corruption. During the last couple of years, one by one, he got a clean chit in all from the accountability courts because the prosecution officials failed to produce the required evidence, presenting either photocopies of case records - unacceptable in a court of law - or claiming having lost them.
Corruption in high places has become a way of life in this country. It is supposed to be the new normal. Those named, instead of feeling ashamed dig in their heels claiming victimisation or, like in the Panama Papers corruption scandal involving the First Family, simply try and shrug off alleged wrongdoing. It is worth noting that in no other country has anyone challenged the veracity of the Panama Papers revelations. All faced accountability in one or another form. Here the relevant institutions, from the NAB to FIA, and the FBR to the State Bank of Pakistan, washed their hands of the case. At first, the ultimate arbiter the Supreme Court too showed no interest in it. The Jamaat-e-Islami's petition seeking investigation into the Panama leaks was turned down while the PTI's petition requesting disqualification of the Prime Minister, his son-in-law Captain Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as members of Parliament for their involvement in the case was rejected as being "frivolous". It was only when the PTI Chairman Imran Khan started a protest campaign threatening to lock down Islamabad that press reports said he had called off the lockdown plan on the "apex court's assurance that Nawaz Sharif's accountability would start". And the wheels of justice did move.
Whatever the outcome, the way the case was initially handled amply demonstrates that when it comes to bringing the power elites to justice, the accountability institutions are unable or unwilling to do their duty. Even the middle level influential individuals get a favourable treatment. They have the option to accept having committed financial crime, return a small portion of the ill-gotten money and walk away free with the rest of it, but those convicted by the courts have no such option; they are put behind bars. While hearing one such case the Supreme Court had aptly observed "NAB is facilitating corruption in the country."
The people have struggled long and hard, suffering jail sentences even executions, for the restoration of democracy only to see it become a kleptocracy. Much of the stolen public money is stashed away in foreign banks, invested in businesses abroad and/or in pricey properties in Dubai, London and some other Western destinations. As per a statement the Finance Minister gave in Parliament a while ago, a whopping sum of $200 billion sitting in Swiss banks belonged to Pakistanis. Still such money transfers have gone on. The US State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy report released recently notes that trade-based money laundering costs Pakistan more than $10 billion a year. That is just one channel the corrupt of this country use to take illegally obtained and untaxed wealth out of this country. This could not be happening if the concerned institutions were doing their duty.
The cost of this activity is paid by powerless sections of society as the government keeps borrowing from international lenders, even to repay the outstanding loans, burdening the hardworking and honest citizens with ever-rising cost of living amidst increasing joblessness. If only these massive illegal outflows are stopped and the stolen money recovered from the rich and greedy thieves, Pakistan would be a much happier place for its people. Which raises the question, who is to bell these ugly fat cats, and how? There are no easy answers given that the power elites control a deeply entrenched system of patronages. Still, things can change if the civil society groups and the genuine political opposition keep the pressure on for the cleansing of our Augean stables.
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