So high are the stakes in Pakistan that the world somehow may find even the $100bn that President Asif Zardari is seeking only if the donors were to trust the intentions of the people who are to spend the money — and are held accountable if they squander or embezzle it.
Foreign donors aside, such an assurance is not forthcoming even to our own people. The first burden that therefore falls on our political leaders is to establish the propriety of their own conduct and integrity of the state institutions in the eyes of the people and dispel many doubts that our allies and the world at large entertain on both counts.
The leaders now in the government or in the opposition have been alternating in that role for the past 20 years — some sticking to their parties, others switching loyalties and still others breaking away to form parties of their own. They have been bringing up charges of misconduct and corruption against each other till Gen Musharraf came on the scene to charge both.
The cases lingered for years before the Ehtesab Bureau established by Nawaz Sharif, and later before Musharraf’s NAB, but hardly any one was disqualified or otherwise punished. All that the bureaus had to show in the way of performance was the recovery of a fraction of the misappropriated amount through plea bargains till Musharraf brought a sweeping law to close all proceedings. It was an act of political expediency cloaked in national reconciliation. Who among those charged was guilty of corruption and who was being persecuted on personal or partisan grounds will never be known.
But that law should not put a premium on corruption nor instil a sense of immunity or give a licence to plunder with impunity. If the present lot of leaders wish to pull the country out of the morass of violence and despondency in which it is stuck, they must first establish their own moral credentials by opening their books and assets for scrutiny by an impartial tribunal with full opportunity provided to the people to question the veracity of the disclosures made.
The process of accountability has to be continuous, open and guided by public perception and not the rules of evidence applicable to criminal trials in which one is taken to be innocent unless proven guilty. The public leaders must be demonstrably above board.
The point to stress is that it is too much to expect of the masses to suffer privation or make sacrifices when their leaders live in luxury at home when in power, and in greater luxury abroad when they have to flee the country — who among them doesn’t have villas in Dubai or flats in London’s Park Lane? The destinies of the masses and the leaders are thus not intertwined in times good or bad.
In the current crisis centred in the tribal area but with trouble spilling all over, the normal institutions of the state — the presidency and parliament, the cabinet, bureaucracy and judiciary — have lost all relevance. Relevant only are the intelligence agencies. But the countries conducting the war on terror (who are also now being called upon to rescue our economy) consider these agencies to be “historically and institutionally complicit” in the Taliban insurgency that they are trying to quell.
Noteworthy for sarcasm in this backdrop is the comment of The Economist in last week’s issue: “Pakistan’s notorious military spooks deserve credit for the audacity of their covert support for the Taliban, the enemy of Pakistan’s greatest ally. But America’s patience with the ISI’s double-dealing is running thin”. The paper then goes on to cast doubts on the assurances of a “civilian with a dodgy past” (meaning our president) to tame the “Invisible Soldiers Inc”.
America, though our ally and best friend, is giving nuclear technology to India but denies it to Pakistan. This discrimination points towards yet another area where our allies and international community alike refuse to trust us. To most of us here, Dr. A.Q. Khan is the country’s ‘greatest benefactor’. The custodians of Pakistan’s ideology assembled in Lahore would rather see him as head of the Islamic state than a pathetic, ailing figure confined to the prison of his home.
To the world at large, however, he is the “single worst nuclear proliferator” who ran a “Wal-Mart to sell the country’s prized secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea making the world a more dangerous place”. These conflicting perceptions apart, an undeniable fact is that though Pakistan now has nuclear weapons and the people are close to eating grass, as Bhutto had then put it, yet we cannot buy nuclear technology for producing desperately needed power for our homes and factories.
Whether it was Dr Khan on his own or the government of the day that was involved in running the nuclear mart is for us to ponder. But we must make peace with the rest of the world by clearing doubts that hang over our conduct as a nation. The nuclear assets that Dr Khan helped create for warfare must not become a liability now that we need nuclear technology for a peaceful purpose.
Lastly, the world has reservations even about our legal system which not long ago was our strength. It is nothing short of bizarre that a struggle launched for greater independence and dignity of the judiciary should be ending in less of both. The accusations made against the chief justice were never investigated nor was the accusing lawyer tried for perjury nor was the president impeached. A constitutional issue carried to the streets forced Musharraf to resign but has sown seeds of division in the ranks of lawyers and judges alike. An unsafe Pakistan without impartial courts must rank low in the preference of investors. Lack of investment, in turn, adds to unemployment and unrest.
The answer to violence at home and doubts abroad lies in letting the institutions work. Individuals should owe allegiance to institutions, not the other way round. That sadly has been the trend long in evidence now reaching a climax in the person of Mr Asif Zardari. As promised, he should better shed his 17th Amendment powers without delay. The cult of his late lamented wife is enough to sustain him in office.
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