Dishonesty: From Necklace to Shameless

Aasef Chauhdry
 
The higher you go the greedier you get. Isn’t it matters of great shame that one of the ex prime ministers while leaving the office took away a precious necklace presented to the second lady by the Turk first lady at that time? Having read the protocol book and the procedure about the disposal of such official gifts, if still someone behaves naive then how it should be termed. It’s very painful to see that we as a nation are doing all sorts of corruption but when someone takes the name, then its neither mine nor it is yours, rather our beloved homeland Pakistan is called as a corrupt country. Pakistan; that has no role no part in this filthy corruption is labeled as, and made to stand at the stage, at 33^rd position. Why Pakistan? Why not me or you? In the early days of Pakistan the government servants would save the papers and would use both sides of a page. So much so that even the employees, in the absence of the common pins, would collect the plant thorns to pin up the papers and other office use. There was no concept of offerings and bribe in the early days, hence there was no corruption. However, with the passage of time it crept and crawled into the society slowly but surely to get this one time’s most prosperous and flourishing country turn into a sleazed society thus acquiring her 33^rd position in 2013, among the most corrupt countries of the world.
Dishonesty is ‘alleged’ as a striking obstacle for good governance, authority of law and rational use of power to run the affairs of state and maintain public unity / national synchronization. Sadly corrupt practices and misuse of public office lead to general frustration opening windows of protest with sense of dissent, disapproval and conflict against governing authority. Regrettably rampant corruption in Pakistan is posing a very serious threat to the state. It has become a significant obstacle towards development and adversely impacting the good governance and rule of law. Political leadership must conduct introspective analysis of their style of governance and develop a desire to fight the menace of corruption through accountability and transparency. The aim should be to put the house in order.
While recalling the early days’ of Pakistan’s history which one can never forget and it would be pertinent to mention those, one remembers that when Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the Governor General of a newly born Muslim state named Pakistan, the cabinet meeting was summoned and while sensing the protocol need the Governor General’s ADC asked the Quaid, “What is to be served during the cabinet meeting; tea or coffee?” The Quaid’s replied spontaneously and bluntly, “Aren’t they served meal at their places? Will they be hungry at this hour of the day?” the incident carried a lesson for the leaders who followed Mr. Jinnah, however, unfortunately all the generations in queue, following Muhammad Ali Jinnah proved the quote that, “The only lesson we have learnt from the history is that we haven’t learnt anything.”
The environment of agitation and demonstrations carry seeds of large scale disturbances creating law and order situation, social disorder and political chaos. However this is a point to be thought by the wise rulers who undertake tangible measures to fight corruption with a view to improve governance and maintain order. While in Pakistan this national concern, qualms and sanity among the political elite doesn’t prevail. The most tragic part of this sordid tale is that the protest against the malpractices, dishonesty, corruption and violating the merit are considered as efforts to destabilise that specific government.
Unfortunately, unbridled and epidemic corruption in Pakistan has infected the entire edifice of national institutions while the rule of law appears to have been totally disregarded. Thus few parasites devouringly consume best of resources while the inopportune poor majority remains repressed and victimized under hard economic conditions. The elite leadership despite having been empowered by the masses through a democratic process has developed vicious aversion, disgusting dislike and malicious vindictiveness / insensitivity against general public they actually represent.
We have recently seen an example of it when Mr. Zardari lashed at the armed forces in a very crude and direct way. It shocked everyone since it was out of any provocation or rough treatment. The insiders say that the apprehension of his front men, model Ayyan Ali and some other such type of events pushed him against the wall. It is believed that soon he will be exposed to the public with the stories about his plundering and corruption. Isn’t it sad that a person who has remained at the helm of the fare is named as a looter? How disgusting it is? Instead of looking at themselves, people like Zardari and Altaf Hussain are shamelessly and brazenly accusing Pak Army / ISI (without any evidence) for orchestrating the prevailing political impasse.
The sufferings of deprived and unfortunates in Pakistan can well be anticipated by prevailing un-employment, poor living and health conditions, price hike, social injustice, contempt for merit, promoting chum-ship and deplorable law and order situation in the country. Regrettably the ministers concerned remain busy in settling scores against their political opponents using floor of Parliament and media channels. Most of their time and effort is spend on preparing fierce speeches to level fresh tirades of accusations and countering the barrages of counter allegations.
Political leadership who has its own priorities is busy in power grabbing process while the poor suffer under hard environment where healthy food, clean drinking water, respectable shelter, justice, education and health care facilities are totally non-existent. It’s high time for our ignorant leadership to prepare a strategy to address the grievances of general masses and do away with ambitious maneuvers to grab more power. Rule of law seems non-existent while merit is totally disregarded. Cronyism and nepotism are fast spreading setting unethical precedence and bringing bad name to governance. The public perceptions are getting stronger that poor governance is due to corrupt practices and misuse of public office. All these evils and vices are drifting the nation and the country away from the positive goals and towards darkness. It is right time to address these lethal weaknesses; before it is too late.