Daily Times

It is a historical moment. The prime minister and all his men have lined up for this mega development. The daughter of the prime minister (PM) daughter proudly tweets about this phenomenal accomplishment. The media hails it as breaking news. This is the fanfare that accompanies the launch of the Premier Service of PIA flights. The premier was there for the premier service. That the premier service flight is a plane borrowed on wet lease from Sri Lankan Airlines, and that the airhostesses will be wearing brighter colours is what the PM classifies as premier. This is a new low in the downward flight of PIA. But more important this is a reflection of what the leaders of our country consider ‘high standards’. This is a mindset that is ready to accept being below ordinary, being sub-standard and being sub-optimal, as long as you can package it as ‘premier’.

This is unfortunately the story of our institutions and enterprises run by government. Most of these institutions are headquartered in Islamabad or Karachi, and are located in prized locations. They occupy huge expanses of premium land. Some of them have very impressive exteriors. Visiting them the story changes. The upkeep of these buildings and premises show a sorry state of neglect. Dusty and dirty, the private areas stink, and the public areas reek of non-maintenance. Pick any place: PTV, PIA, ECP, half an hour inside them and what you see is self-explanatory. Parliament Lodges, the epitome of architectural and princely living, have walls that are full of charcoal drawings, and according to MNAs, mice that outnumber the population of the residents.

PIA has been under debate for almost a decade. Its falling revenues, huge losses and abysmal service standards have made it unviable despite being in almost a monopoly. Some say the unviability is planned. Whatever the reason may be it epitomises what ails public sector organisations. The biggest virus that has acted like termite in these organisations is nepotism and cronyism. PIA, for five years, was in the control of Asif Ali Zardari’s friends, and for the last three years in the hands of Shujaat Azeem of the Nawaz Sharif circle. Azeem, besides being the brother of Tariq Azeem, had the distinction of being court martialed in his earlier job, and it was constant probing of the Supreme Court on his credentials that forced him to resign. But these special advisors and assistants of the PM create such corruption and demoralisation that the very fact that PIA is still flying shows the potential of the institution.

PIA’s debt and liabilities have ballooned over Rs 300 billion. Financial leakages worth billions were identified in PIA booking system by the Civil Aviation. PIA staff at the Allama Iqbal International Airport committed tax fraud worth Rs 10 million. Investigations revealed that tax collected in 24 days of August from the Allama Iqbal International Airport was not deposited in the airliner’s account. These are some glimpses of the continuous institution-destruction. That is why the privatisation of PIA became such a heated controversy, and that is why it is an open secret that there are people who want to reduce this airline to junk value to serve some vested interests.

Thus it is not a matter of celebration but one of commiseration that an airline that was once the premier airline and helped build 36 of the top airlines in the world has bought three Sri Lankan aircrafts on exorbitant — 10 times the actual cost — wet lease terms. Each aircraft will cost PIA $88,000 per day, and will be flown by Sri Lankan pilots. Millions are being spent on advertising of three aircrafts and one route.

Let us look at other institutions that have become the premier’s premier playthings. One of the foremost issues in Pakistan is corruption, and during Pervez Musharraf’s time the inauguration of a special institution was done to counter this menace. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was established to bring down the level of corruption. An institution’s credibility is established on its performance. According to the chairman of NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Pakistan suffers from daily corruption of Rs 10 to 12 billion, which is much more than the five billion rupees quoted by the previous chairman. This in itself is a testimony of the failure of NAB. Last year, Justice Jawad Hassan Khawaja issued a notice to NAB on why cases were pending for 13 years, especially against the big names of the ruling parties. The NAB chairman actively followed up those cases only to apprehend smaller fish, and close down cases of the bigger fry. Last week, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has again asked NAB chairman regarding 16 illegal appointments made by Zaman contravening all laws. The problem is that Zaman himself was appointed by the PM and the opposition leader by contravening laws. His name was involved in the corruption case of the NICL. The joke of the matter is that his case was sent to NAB for probe by his prospective juniors to investigate who obediently gave him a clean chit.

The proverb “once you hit the bottom there is no place to go but up” does not apply to Pakistan. Every time we think this is the lowest we can go, we discover new depths. The recent outburst of the minister of interior in a press conference on the PPP leaders who are putting pressure on government to devise ToR for the Panama leaks probe was instructive. His open claims that this pressure was only due to Mr Zardari’s soft spot for his “friends” Ayyan Ali and Dr Asim not being catered to was ugly and depressing. Why are personalities taking up personal and political issues of the nation? Why are the relevant institutions not taking action and applying the laws of the land to investigate and prove the issues? Perhaps it is semantics. Government servants think and act as if they are serving the government and not the public. Similarly, the premier service standards are also for the premier of the country and not for the customers. Of course, English language is at fault.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com