“Do not sell your soul in exchange for anything. This is the only thing that you have brought into this world and the only thing that you can take back.” Rumi. These are pearls of wisdom. However what people want are pearls of materialism. Gold, diamonds, pearls, cash, dollars these are the “hot” exchanges that can buy any- body, mind, heart and tragically soul in this country. Nowhere is this more visible than politics. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the power corridors. Nowhere is this more practiced in the “august” houses of senate and national assembly. History is replete with incidents where members of the assembly were “exchanged” for various benefits cash/kind for their votes other than the parties they belonged to.
Politics used to be a barter trade. Seats were bartered for votes. This was done behind the scenes with some secret deals. There was some ethical hesitation in making open bids. In the early 90s the famous Changa Manga auction took place. Trading of MNAs in cash and kind was held openly. This event though criticized became a hallmark of deft buying and selling of MNAs and MPAs. This new innovation opened the avenues of payoffs, bribes and buybacks. This led to this becoming a regular practice in some form of the other. The most consistent form of this auction is every three years in Senate elections. Billions of rupees are spent on buying MPAs’ votes to get one senator elected. Every party that suffers raises a hue and cry. Every party that benefits shrugs their shoulders. It has now become a “norm”. That is the problem. Corruption unstemmed, unstopped becomes a virus that affects the whole system. The present No-confidence motion is the result of confidence in the rot that besets the country. Why do politicians cry foul yet do not want to change the system is due to:
High costs of political entry— politics has become a mega business game. Parliamentarians are auctioned to government parties and opposition. They deal and wheel. They negotiate and buy and sell. They create high end offers. These high-end offers are then shown to the other parties to up the deal. This horse and cattle trading goes on till the ultimate package is achieved. Once done, they are still unsure. These deals then become so expensive that for a new party to woo them becomes impossible. That is why for decades it was just PPP and PMLN. PTI struggled for 22 years and then finally had to get the help of these very electables to win the election. But now these electable are doing what they normally do. Exploit and offer themselves to the highest bidder. Something that PPP and PML-N have perfected in doing. Never matter where the money is coming from. Benazir Bhutto in her book and interviews has said that PML-N took money from Osama bin Ladin to buy her people off.
To help or hinder policy shifts— With a system that nourishes on sameness, outdated laws and policies no matter how antique are, will ferociously fight against change. The police system in Pakistan dates back to 1857. Why has it not been changed? Because it suits them. It suits them because to stop criminals, you should not be a criminal yourself. Unfortunately, a majority of the parliamentarians is said to be rule violators, land grabbers or facilitators of gangs. This being so, laws are kept soft, irrelevant or vague. With smart lawyers ambiguity or antiquity of law is just a matter of one good hearing. Penalty of contributing to industrial pollution in forbidden areas is the age old Rs 1500 which needs to be at least Rs 50 million but any amendment in it finds delays and dismissals. Electric vehicles policy is facing huge resistance from the ‘auto bigwigs’ as they have huge influence in the standing committees.
To make or break governments— The big objective is to buy and topple governments. History has examples. In the Changa Manga auction in 1988 Nawaz Sharif who was in government to win a vote of no-confidence against Benazir Bhutto took the MNAs to Changa Manga rest house and later Murree to ensure they vote against Benazir. Benazir lifted the ‘MNA cargo’ through helicopters and took them to Swat to prevent defections. The MNAs enjoyed royal treatment and cash and kind offers unheard off. Thus, a party needs billions to buy and topple governments. PPP and PMLN specialize in this soul trading business. That is why PPP insisted that vote of no-confidence is an easier way to topple government as the price to buy off enough votes is just maybe Rs 500 crores keeping in view the per MNA ‘price’ being quoted. For newer parties like PTI this sort of money and experience is lacking.
The spirit of the Article 63 A is to prevent dishonesty is parliament conduct.
By allowing admitted horse trading this spirit is being tampered with regularly. Horse trading needs massive money. Massive money normally has an illegal source. Those who spend it then want to recover it through more massive illegal sources and this vicious cycle of parliamentary corruption continues. To break this cycle we must:
Legislation to stop horse trading— There is a complete blocking of legislation amendment that stops horse trading. Last year in the senate elections the opposition parties refused to pass a bill on transparent, show of hand voting for electing senators. This needs to be immediately addressed. The Supreme Court must ask the parliament to create laws to prevent horse trading, criminalizing cash and kind payments and increasing penalties for violation. Unless the loopholes in parliamentary election laws are tightened horse will not stop.
To bring a more professional class in the parliament— People entering in the parliament largely represent the feudal landlords, political dynasties, the real estate land grabbers and the nouveau riche who have money and want to buy themselves into power. To change this into a more professional class, electoral reforms that make it possible for ordinary people to afford elections is a must. The salary structure of parliamentarians is pathetic. They need to be made competitive for people to risk leaving their jobs and avoid corruption.
To develop a social boycott of traded souls— The above two may take some time. But what can be done immediately is to socially boycott these people. There should be a naming and shaming campaign on them. Recently, a senator who is wanted for mass land grabbing, having escaped overseas, was seen attending his son’s lavish wedding with people admiring the huge extravaganza. The fact that he was caught on airport trying to escape did not put shame on the family or invitees. Such shamelessness needs to be widely condemned. It should become impossible for such people to flaunt and live “respectably”.
Buying and selling of souls is the lowest of lows. In the august houses of parliament, such flagrant parliamentarian trading and trafficking is immoral, illegal, unethical and unconstitutional. This degradation and decimation is a derogation of democracy, the trust of the people and very spirit of being human.
(The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022