Daily Times

Addressing parliament for the 6th time, President Asif Zardari spoke of everything under the sun but the two major problems that have brought Pakistan economically, politically and morally to its knees: nepotism and corruption. We are certainly not a failed state but Mr Zardari and party put us well on our way to becoming a criminal one. Aesop (620 BC-520 BC), a Greek slave of possibly Ethiopian origin to whom many fables through the centuries are credited, observed 2,500 years ago in 550 BC: “We hang petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” Persecuted and/or sidelined, precedents were set for public officials to not only wholeheartedly condone but expedite siphoning off of public money.

Money is not the only motivation for derailing evidence and prosecution thereof; fear of retribution can be too. Chicago’s Al Capone was guilty many times over for publicly committing murder. Witnesses would never testify against him out of fear for their lives, and he would laugh at them in court. Capone was eventually incarcerated in a federal prison for tax evasion. While money and fear are both used to prevail over the media from airing the truth, the client-patron relationship in a feudal-type society like ours not only finds willing collaborators but even the honourable either become willing accessories or remain silent. If criminals function in the name of justice, justice becomes a crime. Trying to sustain democratic rule through the last five years, the Supreme Court (SC) tried, quite unsuccessfully, to use both reason and the constitution to avoid force of necessity in establishing of the rule of law.

Claiming ‘immunity’ from appearing before the NAB in a corruption case, the former prime minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani also evaded questioning by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in the ephedrine case, in which his son’s former associates have become ‘approvers’. Gilani’s successor Raja Pervez Ashraf delayed appearing before NAB pleading ‘sickness’. In contrast, the innocent are usually impatient about appearing sooner rather than later to clear their name of wrongdoing. These two gentlemen misused the PM’s office to loot the public till to their heart’s content. Raja tried his best to outdo Gilani in his few months as PM. Time and space did not allow him to match the “ecsta-tic” team effort of his predecessor.

Shunting out officials of ill-repute appointed to the public sector entities wholesale, has the SC taken note of the constant pattern of criminality and held anyone responsible for appointing those having the ‘lowest common discriminator’ of honesty and integrity? Who is going to account for the trillions lost? Names are seldom mentioned; the name of the person advising Mr Zardari how to go about destroying a nation without really trying very rarely surfaces.

What about the $ 60 million believed to have been laundered through Swiss banks? Everyone seems focused on the ‘letter to the Swiss’. Has anyone ever bothered to ask Mr Zardari a straight ‘yes/no’ question whether the money in question has anything to do with him in any manner? Either the money is his or it is not, and if it is not how can he object if the country, of which he is president, claims it? He is the only public official in the land who does not declare his assets. The democratic hypocrisy is that no political opponent of note questions Mr Zardari about this. Let’s give credit to Bangladesh for uncovering the money laundering of illegal wealth acquired by late Ziaur Rahman and Ms Khaleda Zia’s two sons, Tariq and Arafat. Mr Rahman was very honest but his sons count among some of the most dishonest. Reportedly wealthy beyond compare, Mr Zardari should take issue with Forbes (like Saudi Prince Talal did for understating his wealth) for not including him in the billionaires list. Does he pay taxes, and if so, how much and in which countries? Our parliament seems to have given him democratic exemption from payment of taxes and declaring his assets. Is there any quid pro quo here?

To quote my article “The Webmaster” dated December 22, 2011, “PPP are great at spinning facts but spinmasters are far different from those who manipulate the web successfully for public perception. A webmaster’s duties include devising and operating strategy, overseeing not just the technical aspects of governance but also management of the content thereof. In the political sense a ‘webmaster’ controls the bureaucracy and runs a parallel government from behind the scenes. With absolute charge over all functions and functionaries, he overrides the democratic facade ‘as and when required’, changing rules of business at will. Sharifuddin Pirzada was the “webmaster” for several military dictators in the ‘legal’ sense; Tariq Aziz was useful to Musharraf more in the “political” sense.”

Zardari’s ‘consigliere’ Salman Faruqui casts a much wider web and manipulation thereof than Pirzada or Aziz. Operating mostly in the shadows from within the Presidency gives Faruqui much more authority by perception. Answerable to no one but his ‘boss’, the ‘webmaster’ has become a law unto himself. Calling in favours rendered by him during his service in critical bureaucratic appointments and cocooned from attribution, Faruqui has put every institution in the nation at risk. Does anyone believe that trying to put the ISI under the Ministry of Interior was Rahman Malik’s brainchild? The ISI escaped this ignominy only when the military hierarchy decided that this was going too far. Faruqui did not let up during the caretaker period. Does anyone believe the caretaker PM Khoso had the capacity (or for that matter the inclination?) to make wholesale postings and promotions (reversed by the SC) during his short tenure? The convenient camouflage of the 18th Amendment will no longer work, and that is why Mr Zardari is suddenly ‘honey and sugar’.

While the buck stops at President Zardari’s desk for wrongdoing across the broad spectrum of governance, this ultimate bureaucrat insider meticulously and systematically destroyed the institutions of governance. Suspended in 1973 by Dr Mubashir Hasan, PPP’s first finance minister, for corruption, Faruqui’s appointment as Federal Ombudsman was a very deliberate and contemptuous slap by Mr Zardari to the name of truth and integrity. The august office still being occupied by such a man is a matter of shame for an honest society, and thankfully, the SC has taken note of this abomination.

While one must commend the brazen aplomb with which Zardari addressed parliament for the 6th time as an elected president, being cheered by his opponents in government sums up the degraded state our society has sunk to morally. In any of Mr Zardari’s talks delivered anywhere as president, is there even one mention of ‘corruption’, even in passing? One must give him credit for that. Unlike others who say what they do not mean and mean what they do not say, at least he is not a hypocrite!

The writer is a freelance columnist