‘Corruption of the law’

[HASEEB ANSARI]

‘Corruption of the law’
By Fakir S Ayazuddin

The shocking headline showed how the PPP government has been so busy making money that they ignored their prime responsibility to the welfare of the people. An outbreak of measles killed 50 in Karachi. A disease that has been eradicated throughout the world has somehow surfaced in Pakistan, to snatch precious lives, and to expose the rotten underbelly of our politics, where scam after scam is surfacing, and billions are skimmed from social sector programmes.

The ex-Prime Minister and his sons are already indicted for pressurising health officers into releasing huge amounts of Ephedrine into the local market, making huge amounts of money, through their cohorts. Raking in a fortune, while the Prime Minister pretended to be blissfully unaware of the goings on!
Luckily for Pakistan, one of the accused succumbed to his conscience, and turned approver. The matter is now under prosecution. The ex-Prime Minister still behaves as if he had done nothing wrong.
It seems our political thinking is twisted, for the general idea is that a politician is above the law, and the state is there to be milked.
Except for Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, no one has considered the state as something to be respected, after all the soldier's ultimate dream is to give his life for his country, yet politicians consider Pakistan fair game, to be robbed at will. In fact, the goal for Pakistani politicians is to make huge amounts of money, not for their people, but for themselves.
Our Honourable Supreme Court has not punished anyone for graft, (successfully) and even though Yousuf Raza and Raja Pervaiz - both rose to be Prime Ministers of Pakistan, and both indulged in the most blatant robbing of the national exchequer imaginable, even overruling seasoned hardened secretaries, like Nargis Sethi.
Surely, the Supreme Court's prime responsibility is to send a strong signal barring further robberies by punishments that could not be waved aside by the two recent Prime Ministers, who are quite happily filing nomination papers. Leaving poor Pakistanis wondering if, indeed, they have beaten the 'rap'. It will also embolden their followers and will shake the confidence of people like Ms Sethi to rethink their decisions.
However, it will definitely create a doubt in the mind of the voters. Who will now believe the PPP leadership, that they are law abiding, but persecuted. This has been a long-time stance of Zardari, that he has not been successfully prosecuted yet, on any charge, and his 10 years spent behind bars were all part of the political victimisation of the PPP, and had nothing to do with any crime committed by him. Therefore, it should be considered his political contribution to the party.
This is a savage indictment of our judicial system, and should give cause to our Supreme Court to revisit their own selves. After all, they are ultimately and finally responsible for all the judicial actions in Pakistani courts, including those that have influenced the Swiss courts. Surely, for instance, the actions by Ambassador Wajid Shamsul Hassan in the UK, filmed and shown in Pakistan where important documents were squirreled away never to be seen again. These are actions that should have been suo motoed.
Meanwhile, we have President Zardari possibly the most corrupt President in our history, savouring his immunity with each passing day, and putting the final touches to securing for his candidates winning votes, to give him another five years of immunity (the presidency itself is not important, it is the immunity that goes with it).
Perhaps, the Chief Justice could address this issue, before other people use other laws to fill in the gaps. Surely, the Chief Justice should have realised the damage being done to Pakistan by Zardari, all the while pretending to be a toothless President via the 18th Amendment. In his five long years, we have seen the US dollar shoot from Rs 65 to Rs 100. Thus, affecting all Pakistanis, who are dependent on imported oil with the Zardari billions safely hidden in hard currencies, it is the hapless Pakistanis to suffer.
Can any election bring us back from the damage that Zardari has wreaked upon this nation?
The PPP of Bhutto has done more damage to Pakistan than all enemies combined; for a start, the crimes of the politicians should be laid at the door of the political party that gave them the power. In Europe, the Nazi party is still vilified for crimes committed more than 70 years ago.
It is time the PPP should be punished for the crimes committed by their members, instead of being flaunted like a badge of honour.

The writer is a political analyst.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...ion-of-the-law