Never!

Former federal minister and close aide/confidante of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari Dr Asim Hussain was remanded for 90 days by an Anti-Terrorism Court under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 because of what the Rangers described as “credible information about his involvement in terrorism-related activity and embezzlement of funds”. Asim soon started coughing out a roomful of more incriminating information. Threatening that “any action on Asif Ali Zardari will instigate war”, PPP’s Khursheed Shah confirmed the prevailing public perception that his disclosures could lead to the PPP co-chairman being indicted. Incidentally, was Ziauddin Hospital being used to treat militants of various ilk?
Non-bailable arrest warrants were issued by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Makhdoom Amin Fahim and others in 12 separate cases related to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), for approving and disbursing fraudulent trade subsidies worth billions of rupees to several fake companies through fictitious claims and backdated cheques. Another arrest warrant is also out for former PM Raja “Rental” Pervez Ashraf. What the PPP had anticipated a month or so earlier, when Zardari went berserk and ranted against the military, is now a fact of life. Having broken the MQM’s street power, which was capable of bringing Karachi to a halt, sometimes on their own and sometimes on behalf of the PPP on cue from Rahman Malik, the bagman, the second phase of the Rangers operation against terrorists and their financing has commenced.
Zardari resorted to the time-tested ploy of attempting to hide criminal activity behind a political screen. Threatening Mian Nawaz Sharif with dire consequences for reverting to the “revenge” of the 1990s, Zardari was careful not to target the military this time. Indicted for political (and other) murders in line with what his old buddy Zulfiqar Mirza has been accusing him of, he could very well end up being tried by a military court. For the record, Mian Nawaz Sharif is quite helpless in the face of the relentless accountability initiated by the military. Sindh Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah was quite amusing in complaining that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and FIA were taking action against the corrupt in Sindh without keeping him in the loop. Politicians in parliament could amend the Constitution to legalise corruption for the sake of “democracy”, claiming that if their corruption is targeted, democracy cannot be sustained. Would the Supreme Court overturn this or hold it beyond their powers to stop criminals from functioning in the name of justice under the camouflage of the Constitution in our version of “democracy”?
The son of another one of Zardari’s partners-in-crime, rumoured to be carrying Rs 3 billion in cash, managed to flee the country in a chartered aircraft to join his crooked father in exile. What about money-laundering laws in the destination country? Real estate in countries like the UK is the recipient of most of the corruption money. Why does the UK not block such funds? Western countries, pontificating endlessly about corruption, money laundering, etc. in third world countries, maintain double standards. When asked about the recent banking reforms in Switzerland and how it would benefit Pakistan because many politicians have allegedly stashed their wealth in Swiss accounts, the Swiss Consul General in Karachi, Emil Wyss, replied that “the ball is really in Pakistani courts. The case has to first go through the courts of Pakistan. Then the government of Pakistan has to make a formal request to our government and provide evidence about the [illegally acquired money] stashed in Swiss banks. If the Pakistani government is able to prove it, the Swiss government will then return the money.” Emil Wyss, a good man, probably does not understand that it is almost impossible for governments affected by the flight of such corrupt capital to prove this! Having strict money-laundering laws, at least in theory, could the Swiss authorities enquire into the source of the funds and how they reached Switzerland? With reasonable doubt about the origin of funds, could they consider confirming whether taxes were paid at the origin?
Terrorists cannot operate for any length of time, with any effectiveness, without corruption contributing to crime and morphing into organised crime. The World Economic Forum’s Partnership Against Crime Initiative has repeatedly emphasised this. The ability to launch the odd terrorist attack notwithstanding, the terrorists’ capacity for sustained activity is severely curtailed, without organised crime arranging the laundering of necessary funds to give them the capacity and potential for their activities. Other than targeting them wherever (and whoever) they may be, the sources of laundered revenues must be a primary target. Talking to his troops at advanced positions in the Shawal Valley near the Afghan border, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif gave a no-nonsense reply to those protesting why NAB, FIA and the Rangers had the audacity to indict the corrupt: “We will not allow anyone to kill our people and children. We will expose all faces who help the terrorists at any stage and in any way.”
There are no signs yet of Raheel Sharif and his colleagues succumbing to the temptations of greed. Faced with a tough job, the Rangers have the momentum going but they must have a ruthless self-accountability mechanism to keep their majors, colonels and personnel, at every level, in check. One already sees the first hint of arrogance (which precedes corruption) in them; whatever is being gained will be lost, as was the case after Musharraf’s first two to three years, if arrogance morphs into complacency and/or corruption.
There is a class difference in the officer corps since a decade ago, the present lot of battle-hardened soldiers (Swat and FATA), minus sorry exemptions like Sajjad Ghani and a couple of other three-star cronies of Kayani, are less susceptible to temptation than those of the Musharraf reign, who were promoted because they, like him, had never heard a shot being fired in anger. Given that the intentions are initially good, how many times have we seen those exercising absolute power begin to sooner or later think of themselves as God’s gift to mankind? To stay the course, the Pakistan Army must ruthlessly carry out self-accountability to ensure credibility. The process of accountability must be sustained across the board must if the country is to have any future.
A very good plan is not worth the paper it is written on unless it can be implemented successfully. Capable leadership often falters at the altar of compromise for one reason or the other, one of the prime ones being greed. Unless an effective self-correcting mechanism runs in parallel, the military itself will become part of the problem that it came to solve.
It is now or never!

The writer is a defence analyst and security expert