Pakistan: How Corruption Brought A Country's Doom

Politicians Are Involved In Corruption

Main Points:

1.    Pakistan has laws and institutions to prevent corruption.

2.    Laws and institutions do not have teeth.

3.    National Accountability Bureau has not been able to nab corrupt leaders and bureaucrats.

4.    Railways scam, Hajj scam, PIA scam, medical registration scam, Rental power scam and NATO container scam are some of the high profile corruption cases of Pakistan.

-----

By New Age Islam Staff Writer

30 January 2023

The holy Quran has described the doom of some powerful nations and it has also described the causes of their doom. Some nations were destroyed for sexual crimes and some for dishonesty and corruption. Corruption --- both moral and financial --- leads to the ruin of a nation or community.

From a close study of the fast deteriorating financial crisis of Pakistan, we can see that corruption is at the root of Pakistan's impending doom. The common man, the political leaders and the military have sunk deep in corruption. The Quran had warned them against corruption, against food adulteration and lavish investment on luxurious projects.

A former mayor of Karachi and an activist Arif Aajakia talks of the dishonest ways and corruption of politicians and bureaucracy in Pakistan. He says that roads in Pakistan are always in a bad condition because of rampant corruption in government departments. The roads are constructed with crores of rupees but do not last more than two weeks. This is because all the officers that are involved in passing an order of the construction demand their commission. So if one crore rupees are sanctioned, Rs 40 lakh is paid to 17 officers who put their signature of approval. Rs 60 lakh is left out which the contractor keeps Rs 30 lakh. And the road is constructed with Rs 30 lakh.

Since the roads are in a bad condition, they need to be repaired on special occasions like festivals or Muharram when processions are taken out. So the 'patch up' work is done. That is, only potholes are filled. This also requires about a crore rupees of which a large chunk is claimed by officers and clerks.

He says once a road in Gwadar Port was constructed by the Pakistan army because it was given the contract. One crore rupees were sanctioned but only after a week, the road vanished. This is the degree of corruption in Pakistan.

Mr Aajakia also says that in Pakistan military has its own budget but apart from that billions of rupees are also allocated to the military from the civilian budget for pensions of retired military personnel. Moreover, during disasters and civil unrest, the army claims millions of rupees from the concerned states as service charge. For example, if the army conducts rescue operations during floods in a state, the state has to pay the army for its services. If there is civil unrest in a state and the army is called for help, the state needs to pay for its service. Similarly, the state has to pay the army for its services during any calamity or natural disaster. This puts a huge financial burden on the country.

During the current financial crisis when the country has foreign reserves of less than 4 billion dollars and it has been begging loans from Saudi Arabia, UAE and IMF, the leaders have not shown any remorse for their corrupt behaviour. Only two days ago, Shahbaz Sharif announced that his government will distribute loans of Rs 15 lakh to millions of youth and laptops to one lakh youth. This is ridiculous. When the country does not have money to pay 2 billion dollars to the shipping companies to get the release of 9000 containers carrying essential commodities holed up at Karachi port, it has announced that it will distributes loans and laptops to the youth. This is because the elections to the Punjab assembly are to be held within three months and he needs to come back as the Chief minister of Punjab, if he does not come back as the Prime Minister. Shahbaz Sharif and other Pakistani leaders can not set aside politics at this juncture. Shahbaz Sharif has agreed to accept all the conditions of the IMF to get the first instalment of 1.6 billion dollar but will spend the money on his election campaign. He has already announced Rs 100 crore for building judges ' quarter to appease them as they are crucial for his and his son's acquittal in corruption charges.

Mr Arif Aajakia says that even if the laptops are distributed, the track record of Pakistani politicians shows that each minister will forward the name of one thousand beneficiaries, most of whom will be his relatives and friends. And from the common people, they will demand half the price of the laptop. In this way, the laptops will be distributed.

It can be guessed how the loans of Rs 15 lakh will be distributed. The people among the friend circle of politicians and ministers will plunder the loan money and the deserving youth will not get it.

It is not that the country does not have laws dealing with corruption and bribery. Prevention of Corruption Act 1947, 1950 & 1958 seek to deal with corruption, bribery and economic crimes in public sector. In 1999, the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance was brought. The ordinance granted NAB the authority to investigate, conduct inquiry and issue arrest warrants against individuals, suspected in financial corruption, terrorism, corruption in private, state, defence and corporate sectors and direct such cases to accountability courts. Individuals convicted under NAB are prohibited from holding political office for ten years.

Apart from these, the states have also legislations on corruption. Still, there have been high profile scams and corruption cases in the country. One of the scams in which a minister was involved was Rental Power Projects scam in which Raja Pervez Ashraf was allegedly involved. But later NAB gave him a clean chit.

In 2010, there was a medical fake registration scam in which some members of the executive committee of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council were allegedly involved. The council issued fake registration to 19 medical colleges in one day and 40 fake registrations were issued to fake doctors who played with the lives of people. The council issued 150 fake registrations.

There have also been Hajj corruption case and corruption case of the PIA that caused a loss of US $500 million to the country. The Railways corruption case and thd NATO container case were also high profile corruption cases among others.

Cricketer Imran Khan entered politics with the promise to root out corruption from Pakistan and gave the slogan of Riyasat-e- Madina for a corruption-free Pakistani society and bureaucracy. But he has not been able to live upto his promise. The reason is that corruption cannot be root out with the help of laws and legislations alone. It can be achieved only with a spiritual reform in the society. Unless corruption is rooted out on the individual level, it can not be rooted out on the collective level.

URL:    https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/pakistan-corruption-doom/d/128992

 

New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism