Accountability syndrome

Columnist Ansar Mahmood Bhatti says that carrying out proper accountability remains a major worry.

Emma Duncan, an English writer, in her book ‘Breaking the Curfew’, writes “Pakistan is a country where corruption has penetrated deep into the bureaucracy. The country is circumscribed by the turncoat politicians, and its law-making institutions have become snag hideouts for the lawbreakers”.
Ms Duncan made these observations almost a decade ago yet the ground realities remain the same. Her observations, the crux of her work, can rightly be employed to elaborate the present political imbroglio, which continues to be grimmer and grimmer.
For us, the corruption phenomenon is not new. Pakistan, ever since its inception, is faced with this spectre. Successive regimes have taken measures to do away with this evil, unfortunately, its tentacles continued to spread in our society. It has infected each and every member of the society and now it has become an integral and legitimate part of our system.
The very edifice of our system now rests on this evil and the day we removed this “brick” the entire system would crumble. The drives launched by different governments for the elimination of corruption have failed to deliver. Reason being obvious — every time the law-breakers are assigned the tasks to purge the Augean stables of corruption. Very simple: how can a thief catch a thief?
Ironically, the very mantra of eliminating corruption and taking the corrupt to task is still in vogue. No doubt, a number of bigwigs have been NABed but many of them still remain at large and perhaps they will. Unfortunately, in our country accountability has not been across the board, rather it has been opponents-specific. Benazir Bhutto, during her first stint as prime minister instituted cases against politicians under the garb of accountability and Nawaz Sharif during his tenure established Ehtesab Bench, headed by Saifur Rahman. The Ehtesab Bench of Lahore High Court had punished two-times Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari.
Afterwards, a series of convictions took place against the couple. There is no denying the fact the couple was justly convicted and they duly deserved what they got in the shape of prison or exile. Likewise, Nawaz Sharif and his cohorts got their due when it was their turn. The only point is that the accountability should not be politically motivated as it has been so far.
But, let us not make it an issue and take it as a trendsetter in the politics of Pakistan. Few would disagree that here in our country almost every politician is corrupt in one way or the other. Until recently, it was a widely held view that assemblies belong to the corrupt but the introduction of graduation condition has somehow changed this perception. We can see now a handful of elected representatives having an unblemished past. But having been guided by the past, it cannot be guaranteed whether they could still be called unblemished when they return to the assemblies for the second time!
Nawaz Sharif government came under scathing criticism when it passed the Ehtesab Act in 1997. The government had failed to put forth any credible explanation for excluding from the process of accountability the period from 1985 to 1990, as envisaged in the Ordinance, earlier issued by the then President. The motive was to please some near and dear ones. These sorts of events nevertheless are considered very minor in today’s politics and even people do not react antagonistically to such happenings since they take it as taken for granted.
National Accountability Bureau, the brainchild of the military-led regime, was tasked to net the corrupt without any discrimination. The idea behind the creation of this outfit was of course sublime and NAB did well ab initio but then it started behaving like previous traditional accountability bodies and time came when NAB was considered an effective tool to tame the ‘defiant politicians’ and bureaucrats. The perception, unfortunately, still holds the ground. NAB should not act in an irresponsible manner rather its actions ought to be solid and based on hard facts. Bureaucrats are more prone to NAB wrath as compared with politicians. I can cite many examples that NAB had been used to intimidate bureaucrats having excellent credentials. It should not happen anymore since it will greatly tarnish the image, if any, of this outfit. Induction of some of the MNAs, against whom many criminal cases are pending, as ministers has also shaken the confidence of the people. The move has nullified the government claims of across the board accountability and upholding of the rule of law. Many have raised their eyebrows on the induction of Faisal Saleh Hayat as the Interior Minister. The Interior Minister in particular and the rest of the Cabinet in general must have possessed an impeccable record since only then things could have been set in order.
Interestingly, a pot has been assigned the job to call the kettle black. Aftab Sherpao’s case is also similar one. In January 2000 he had left the country to avoid corruption charges but on January 6, 2002 was brought back. His arrest on return and five months jail were all acts of hoodwinking the masses. He was proved “innocent” on June 4, 2002. In August 2002 he was extended all sorts of help to form Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) and was got elected its Chairman. The eyewitnesses say that the bureaucrats, sensing the forthcoming importance of Sherpao, had helped him set files of criminal cases in order, which ultimately paved the way for his acquittal. He is now a federal minister. The way the appointment of the Sindh Governor has taken place speaks volumes for the futility of the entire accountability process. All cases against Doctor Sahib have either been withdrawn or put in the cold storage. Ostensibly, nobody will dare open up these cases again at least during the governorship of Dr. Ibad. Our political history is replete with these and many other instances of political compromises but this, in no way, will help steer clear the ship of our economic, social and a bench of other miseries. The success of Western democracies is solely because their institutions work as per the rules. Law, there, is made to ease out masses’ problems and not to multiply them. Nobody stands above the law. But, things in our country have gone topsy-turvy. Here role of law and the law enforcing agencies has been to protect and patronize the lawbreakers.
Summing up, the incumbent government has to infuse a new spirit into the accountability process in order to make it more credible and across the board. The idea, no doubt, was good yet its execution has raised many a question. Great onus, therefore, lies on the shoulders of Prime Minister Jamali and his team that they should streamline the accountability-related affairs and try to build up people’s confidence in the entire process.