A CURE OR A CERTAIN DEATH?

Imran Anwar Wonders About Pakistani Government's Intentions

Is Pakistani politics another name for disillusionment of the people?

I recall when, as a journalist in Pakistan, I was "interviewed" by certain "authorities" at midnight at my home for having published the first color photos and cover story of Benazir Bhutto's in a major Pakistani newsweekly, immediately after her triumphant return from "exile." I then recall happiness at seeing a return to democracy. I was disappointed in her first rule, and at the total lack of achievement, while accusations of corruption grew.

I was still upset to see her removed, and Nawaz Sharif come into power. I was saddened but not surprised when they started an effort to prove corruption against her government, but I was delighted and surprised to see the great economic liberalization steps he began. I was upset upon hearing cases of wealth creation by his close associates, and people possibly even closer, but I felt the economic rebirth of Pakistan made it worth ignoring these crimes. That is why I was disgusted when his government was removed, ostensibly again with the corruption accusation.

Finally, we got BB back in power, and not only were the achievements fewer than expected, the corruption at the highest level went on so openly, as to make the whole thing look like a terrible nightmarish joke. Now, we see her out again. I am sad at our failure to run the course of a full term with a democratic government, but it is worse to see so called elected popular leaders plunder the country while acting as dictators.

Now, we are hearing the accountability word, once again. I do not recall too many people landing in jail for corruption in BB's first term, I do not see any millions brought back from Swiss accounts that Nawaz Sharif's henchmen supposedly took out in his term. So, how does anyone expect me to see millions of Dollars and Pounds worth of property and swiss accounts come back into Pakistan with this newest round of "accountability"? I don't. I wish, I could, but I don't.

All I hope is that the statement of caretaker PM Meraj Khalid, that people want this interim government to work for 2 years, is merely a reporting of someone's suggestion, not the inner working of our current ruling group's "intention." We all recall what 90 days can turn into, and how difficult it is for such "90-Days" to be over. PAF does not afford an extra C-130, and Pakistan does not afford 10 years, or even two years, of "interim" rulers.

Let us hope there IS true accountability, and that whether the money was made from 10% commissions, or from previous rulers' sale of banks to the (VERY) private sector, the culprits are exposed. The political parties Pakistan has is like having AIDS and Cancer together, not only is each one capable of causing death, together they promise to make it a wasting away on the outside, while being eaten away on the inside.

God save us... or all there will be to save will be our souls.

Imran Anwar welcomes comments and emailed opinions. Selected responses can be published online at the writer's request, if well written and interesting. Imran Anwar reserves the rights of selection and refusal or removal and does not neccessarily agree with such articles.

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Muhammad Adnan Ali's commentary on Imran Anwar's opinion.

Subject: Caretakers (in reference to "a cure or a certain death")

Dear Editor & Publisher:

I cannot agree more! I welcome the sacking of the govt. on the basis of corruption and illegal taping charges but who are these caretakers? I know they themselves are not clean. e.g. Have we forgotten MEHRANGATE about Leghari? Leghari talked about Benazir's appointing PPP jeyalas as superior court judges. Well I'll tell you one name that Leghari inducted. Ex. Justice Munir Khan from Dera Ghazi Khan (Leghari's home). He retired from Lahore high court about 5 years ago and was over 65 in age in 1994 and thus could not be appointed as a supreme court judge but Leghari appointed him as an ADHOC supreme court judge. He was later sacked by the supreme court chief justice after the decision in the so called judges case. By the way I know that Leghari calls him CHACHA Ji.

Leghari never said anything to BB about the day to day business of the govt. before spring 96 when all of a sudden he started writing letters. Leghari is talking about accountability and is just testing the people if they will allow him to keep the interim setup for longer than 90 days.

Accountability in Pakistan is a joke. When BB wanted to punish Sh. Rasheed, she appointed Malik Lutuf Ali as the special judge to head that court. Malik Lutuf Ali was known as the most corrupt judge in Punjab. You can imagine his corruption by the fact that when he was transferred from Bahawalpur where he was an additional district and sessions judge to Dera Ghazi Khan the local bar association took out a procession in which people had play cards reading " AA Gaye Malik LUT Ali AA Gaye" i.e. making joke of his name Lutuf by calling him LUT. The Lahore high court was so embarrassed that they transferred him back to Bahawalpur. This is the guy who sent Sh. Rasheed to jail. I am not defending Sh. Rasheed about whom I have heard a lot but not from credible enough sources to include here.

The so called caretakers have absolutely no right to carry on as they have no mandate and most of them cannot even win one seat for the assembly. Malik Meraj Khalid is supposed to head a caretaker government after sacking a government against whom one of the primary charges is the destruction of the judiciary. Well let me say that Mr. Meraj Khalid has had his own problems with the judiciary. While he was speaker of the house in BB's first term, he used to write a SIFARISHI RUKKA to one judge or other almost on a daily basis. One civil judge in Lahore got so fed up with these letters that he sent a couple to the high court on an official basis. The Lahore high court summoned Mr. Meraj Khalid and he sent his counsel with an apology letter and thus the matter was resolved.

On the other hand we have Nawaz Sharif (NS) and company. Well they are not as bad. I definitely supported PML's economic measures and the infrastructure development program. However their ways of ruling the country were not kosher either. Every one knows about the Kabza group of Lahore whose members included people from Jamat-e-Islami and close relatives of the Sharif family. Sharif family took out billions of rupees as loans from the banks and while being a politician should not disqualify you from obtaining loans, how can a country whose annual budget is 10 billion dollars afford to lend hundreds of millions of dollars to the Chaudhary (Shujjat and Pervaiz Elahi) and the Sharif families? NS had a much cleaner team as compared to BB but things were not all that good either.

I don't even have to start about BB and Mr. 10 %. I think even the most vigorous supporters of BB were disappointed. I voted for her in 88 but have since cursed myself for she betrayed my trust. However the famous saying that "Fool me once , shame on you ; fool me twice , shame on me" does not seem to be known by the people of Pakistan. Millions voted for her the second time.

Now let me say something about Imran Khan. Although there have been no concrete evidence or credible allegations about his dealings, he sends out very mix signals. On the one hand he is known as a playboy in the British press while on the other hand he starts talking about Islam. He is known to have lived like a feudel's son but talks about cleaning the VIP culture that he has enjoyed throughout. I don't think he has a chance in the coming elections if they are held in February 97, but he can be a real force if the drama of accountability is staged and both BB and NS are barred from contesting the elections.

In my opinion any accountability process should be held in a court of law and all accused assumed innocent until proven guilty. This is the way a civilized society deals with people and this is also the way of Islam. The talk about the election commission disqualifying BB and NS on basis of their existing criterion in which there are provisions that can bar even the slightly faulted individuals. None of the caretakers nor the chief election commissioner himself meets the requirements.

We can just hope that the caretakers show some common sense in their so called measures of austerity which I can only hope are not just for twisting public opinion in favor of their extended rule. Mr. Meraj Khalid has started to travel in economy class and has announced a 50% cut in the ministers' salaries. Pakistan would have been something close to heaven if the only problems were the PM's travel expenses and the ministers' salaries. We have an out of control bureaucracy which lives in 10 kanal houses where one kanal is worth 4-5 million rupees. The governor house of Lahore is worth close to a billion rupees. It has its own school for its employees' kids and also a small zoo. Every DC in the country has 3-5 vehicles. One official and the rest acquired from different departments as the DC is the executive head of the district. Commissioners and secretaries have their own luxuries and sources of income. Millions of dollars worth of national wealth is daily awarded by these custodians of the country to their favorite people and kickbacks received. The common man cannot even wonder close to the offices and houses of these rulers of their own country. I say sell all the bungalows of these culprits and put the wealth in the treasury. Pay them a decent salary and let them rent or buy their own houses and vehicles. USA with a GDP of 6 trillion dollars does not need a commissioner to run New York why do we need these District Management Group people. Let the mayors handle their cities and let the respective department chiefs handle their own business as we don't need a DC to overlook an Executive Engineer, we already have a chief engineer to do that.

Moral decay of our society is the basic reason for all the problems. The private sector blames the public officials where as most business men don't even pay 1/10 of the tax they are supposed to pay.

Any way I can probably go on forever, but you get the picture. Thanks for your time.

sincerely

-- Muhammad Adnan Ali

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