Former Judge of the High Court of Sindh Justice (R) Muhammad Shaiq Usmani on Wednesday said that despite all the criticism that is showered on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), it has done a good job and the organization certainly has gone a long way to curb corruption.
He was speaking as chief guest on the occasion of a seminar on “Promoting the Culture of Integrity, Nation’s collective responsibility”, at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi here.
The seminar was organized by the NAB Karachi in collaboration with the Arts Council, Karachi, to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day.
Justice (R) Muhammad Shaiq Usmani said that poverty is something that invites corruption because if people are poor, if they cannot feed their children, then obviously they have no option but to indulge in things like corruption so that at least their children can be fed.
So, poverty is one thing, but what is required in a society of much corruption is to end poverty and to make sure that everybody gets their needs, he maintained.
He said that human nature has emerged in a way where people would like advantages for themselves if they can benefit some other person by doing that.
He thought that when we live in the societies of today, where we have big organizations and corporate organizations and all sorts of things, if we indulge in corruption, if individuals who run those organizations indulge in corruption, it harms the country as a whole.
He said that the corruption harms people and destroys their careers, so there has to be a watchdog institution.
He said that he represents Transparency International, which is a worldwide organization, and our job is to act as a watchdog against the corruption levels in the countries of the world.
He said that we have surveys on a regular basis and in those surveys, we try and assess the level of corruption in various institutions and then present them to the people. Now, earlier on, there was not much interest in these surveys but suddenly the interest has blossomed. Now all these people are getting interested and they’re talking about it, he added.
He said that we find certain countries of the world, like for instance New Zealand, Switzerland, where there was almost zero corruption.
Justice (R) Muhammad Shaiq Usmani said that Transparency International celebrates December 9 as the International Anti-Corruption Day. It was because of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2003. Now, the Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 31st October 2003.
Since then, 192 countries have ratified it, which, of course, highlights the global consensus and accountability good governance and strong institutions are central to any country’s progress. Pakistan was among the early countries to become a party to this convention, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, the President of ACP, Ahmed Shah, said that we are a brave nation and we are capable of facing a hard time with courage.
He called for collective efforts by all members of the society to curb corruption and said that alone, NAB cannot control corruption without the cooperation of the society.
Former Director NAB Karachi Muhammad Altaf Bawany said that the need of the hour is that we recognize corruption as abhorrent and ingrain this conviction within ourselves.
He said that if we resolve to walk the right path, Allah too will aid us. We do face difficulties in this, but if a person remains steadfast on these principles, they are granted immense elevation and success, he added.
He stated that if we remain firm on this, we will regain our lost values, and the country will progress on the path of development.
Later, students of various schools were awarded shields on their outstanding performances in speech contests, essay writing and painting poster competitions, while officials of NAB were also awarded commendation certificates for their outstanding performances.
The chief guest, ex-judge of the High Court of Sindh Justice (R) Muhammad Shaiq Usmani, Director General NAB Karachi Shakeel Ahmed Durrani and others were also presented souvenirs on the occasion.