Daily Times

You are innocent until proved guilty. This is a rule of justice and fair play. However, in many parts of the world and especially in Pakistan, this rule seems to have been changed to mean that you are innocent, even when you are proved guilty. This interpretation of the rule not only exists in politics, but seems to have pervaded the corporate world, the social sector and the sports arena as well. While Hillary Clinton is struggling to keep her fund raising campaign for the presidential race within the rules, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) – the supreme body that runs high-stakes football in the world — seems to be finding it difficult to turn black into grey. Here in Pakistan, Rs 230 billion have been siphoned off for terrorist activities under the guise of religious or political expediency.

The corporate world, which is supposed to be a model of discipline and professionalism, tries to justify and hide shades of black. J P Morgan, one of the US’s largest banks, was considered a great success story in China — a very tough and protected market. However, hiring the sons of the powerful elite and using them to influence billion dollar decisions in J P Morgan’s favour is not exactly in the black. Similarly, the sports world has been rocked by scandals recently. FIFA has had a spurt of scandals to deal with. In the latest scandal, Sepp Blatter has brought to fore the corruption embedded in this big money game. After a huge scandal on the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar and Russia in 2018 and 2022 and a consequential inquiry report, the association has become an international joke. The report declared the corruption charges as correct, but the process was considered sound enough to be upheld — meaning that it was not black enough. Both Pakistan and India have been beset with cricketing scandals. The game of musical chairs between Ashraf Zaka and Najam Sethi, one a banker and the other an anchor, was ultimately resolved by a tailor-made solution to suit the ruling government. Srinavasan, the head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and his son-in-law have been involved in scandals but they are not big enough to be termed illegal.

However, nothing beats politics, especially in Pakistan, with its magnanimity to overlook and condone crimes of unlimited scale. Which other country has the distinction of having its President called Mr Ten Percent, with all sorts of cases and scandals attached to him, and yet be known as a role model in political acumen and maturity. His Swiss bank accounts have been an open secret for years and all opposition parties have asked for that money to be brought back to Pakistan, with some particularly graphic statements from Shahbaz Sharif. The $ 60 million dollars in Swiss banks aside, the necklace that the Swiss government wanted to return to our government has been refused. The Pakistani government has been in litigation over this case since November 7, 1997 because of the claim that ornaments costing £ 117,000 at the time of purchase were part of $ 13.5 million in commissions given to two Swiss companies on September 29, 1994, during the second tenure of Benazir Bhutto’s government. The PPP denies the ownership of this jewellery, despite evidence given by the Swiss government.

The PML-N made statements of dragging President Zardari on the streets till he brings back all the Swiss money but is now mute. In fact, Shahbaz Sharif has apologised to Zardari for his statements. After all, over £ 100,000 are not big enough to make a ruckus about. Another mystery is the necklace donated by the Turkish Prime Minister’s (PM’s) wife for flood victims in 2010. It disappeared from the NADRA warehouse and is now in the possession of Yusuf Raza Gilani, who has claimed that the Turkish PM’s wife was like a sister and he had affectionately kept it. The fact that charity for flood victims was found in the former PM’s custody is shameful. This may be embarrassing for the country but for our leaders, it is just a necklace.

One would assume that since such ethical digressions are a worldwide phenomenon, Pakistan is just a small subset of this virus. The tendency of people to bend rules to suit their requirements is universal. However, systems of accountability exist in other countries to ensure that, sooner or later, the culprits are either punished or brought back on track, which is why these countries and organisations keep progressing. The problem in Pakistan is that those responsible for catching black acts have such a huge tolerance for shades of black, along with the ability of turning black into white, that nearly every wrongdoer escapes punishment.

The latest tool for whitening black acts are the Judicial Investigative Teams (JITs). These JITs are deliberately made up of people who will have meetings, form committees and then write reports absolving the wrongdoers of all crimes. The two JITs formed for investigating the Model Town incident, in which 100 people were shot, is self-evident. The first JIT was formed under Justice Baqar Najafi and was not accepted by the opposition. The chief minister thought that because there was opposition to it, this JIT would give a favourable report, exonerating them of all allegations. To his surprise, the report was not a carte blanche. Thus, he set up another JIT and this time made sure that it produced a report that made the villains look like heroes and the heroes look like villains.

On the contrary, in FIFA’s case, despite a contentious report on the corruption, over a dozen Executive Committee members have resigned. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has also resigned, despite being re-elected. J P Morgan has suffered hugely after the Bernie Madoff scandal and is taking corrective measures. Pakistan’s tolerance for what is black has reached dizzying heights, as even proven criminals are termed innocent. If some of our leaders can say that poor Ayyan Ali was just carrying half a million dollars of her hard earned money and she is being unfairly “victimised”, then God only knows what it would take for people in power to be convicted. Even the public is immune to such deviation. The belief is that all are corrupt, so let us choose the least corrupt one. Without a complete rejection of all shades of black at most levels, it will be difficult to have any judicial or legal system controlling the increasing moral decay in society.

The writer is secretary information PTI Punjab, an analyst, a columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com