Daily Times

The crackdown against the negative flow of the dollar and other commodities is in full swing as the army chief continues to assure authorities, province after province, that he is determined to continue his efforts and ensure an end to”pilferage of resources and economic losses.”

It is a heartening development that those at the helm of our affairs finally raised their heads out of the sand (thanks to the desperation of dwindling finances) and opened their eyes to the bustling grey market. Amid flooding of Iranian petrol, smuggled Indian goods and swirling reports of dollars leaving the country in rusty trucks, shrill alarm bells have been heard for quite a while now.

While we may expect the caretaker setup to contemplate the forever-ignored ground realities pertaining to fragile, ill-equipped borders and a whole lot of vicious suspects that have become accustomed to flouting the law of the land, a worrisome revelation by interior minister on security personnel’s involvement in large-scale smuggling of currency, oil, and other commodities across borders with Iran and Afghanistan underscores how the battle needs to be fought, both inside and outside the citadel.

For starters, Mr Sarafaraz Bugti should be appreciated for having the courage to call a spade a spade. But now that elephant in the room has been noticed, unleashing the full force of law upon those who inflate the black economy-regardless of their position in the food chain-would depend upon the resolute determination of the civil and military leadership. In a country routinely dismissed among the lowest on transparency indices, loose borders alone cannot be considered the only crucial factor.

The state would have to do a far better job in reasserting itself through exemplary punishments for all black sheep. In addition to action against the personnel who prefer individual gains to longtime erosion of the nation’s prosperity, law enforcement authorities would have to convince retailers to stop entertaining the illegal channel by putting an end to the sale of smuggled goods. The rot would have to stop, one way or another. *