Boopinder Singh
In the sixties, it was said that 100 families controlled Pakistan – the land reforms that were pushed through the Indian side were given a convenient miss and the essential feudal character of the Pakistani landscape and psyche,flourished. The feudal instincts of the Pakistani leadership played a silent role in the creation of Bangladesh and the perpetuation of the presence of the feudals in the state and national assemblies. Later, the stranglehold was loosened with the advent of the Military brass and the nouveau riche capitalists who formed the new troika of interspersing rulers – there was one commonality of existence for all three, popular perceptions of endemic corruption. Therefore, Pakistan’s tryst with participative democracy rotated between one of the three forms of availableleaderships, leaving the struggling constituents gasping for a change each time, only to see the revolving door of democracy ushering in one form of the corruption versus the other, as personified by each of the three forms of rulers e.g. the Bhutto’s fromthe dusty swathes of Larkana are reflective of the landowning feudals, the Sharif’s of the new age, urban capitalists, whilst the Musharraf’s and Zia-ul-Haq’s are reflective of the power structures emanating from the tree lined cantonments.
The global corruption watchdog, Transparency International, ranks Pakistan at an abysmal 117 in the Global Corruption Perception Index for 2015 (India is ranked at 76). The Transparency International further castigated the Asif Ali Zardari-led PPP government of 2008-2013 to be the most corrupt government with an estimated $94 Billion lost in corruption, bad practices and tax evasions- strengthening claims to the unfortunate sobriquet afforded of Asif Zardari from the time of the rule by his wife, Benazir Bhutto as, ‘Mr.10 percent’ (the verdict on the performance of the current Nawaz Sharif-led, PML government on corruption, is still out there).
Not surprisingly, the lead-up to the General Election in 2013 was pitched as a referendum against corruption by the Sufi cleric Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri and Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s Imran Khan – so much so, alluding to the directly competing and inimical power centers of feudalism in the form of Asif Zardari’s PPP and the obvious capitalistic aspersions on the PML’s Sharif family, Imran Khan spoke against the, ‘dynasty-type, family limited companies politics’ (this, when strategically he is said to have gone soft against the third vector of power structure in Pakistan, the Army).
Since then, the fight for supremacy is now down to the Military versus the civilian government of the Sharif brothers led, PML. The wheels between wheels of intrigue in Pakistan ensures a covert battle that plays between Islamabad (housing the assemblies of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura of political power) and Rawalpindi (housing the General Head Quarters of the Pakistani Army). For now, to ensure escaping any international censure or domestic upheaval, the constitutional structures and warrants of precedence are ostensibly maintained, yet, the military invariably reigns in the civilian government whenever it feels the same is overstepping the unwritten lines of decision making. The playing field for the Pakistani Army is not just Military in nature, it extends to geo-political affairs, domestic affairs and even to the elements of economy like CPEC etc.
Given this background of competitive maneuvering and constant second-guessing in Pakistan, ‘Corruption’ has emerged as the latest and favourite, beating stick of the Pakistani Army against the politicos. General Raheel Sharif who is basking in the glory as the alpha-leader who is taking on the vexatious grip of terror outfits on the Af-Pak border, Baluchistan and even on the mean streets of Karachi, has upped the ante with his recent action of mass-dismissal of senior officers on charges of corruption, from its ranks – in the eyes of the masses, it is yet another rare action of incorruptibility and being above-board that the Pakistani Army had displayed, whilst, the politicos are perceptibly on the back foot with the ghosts of ‘Panamagate’ haunting Nawaz Sharif, personally.
Expectedly, General Sharif has mounted immense pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to come clean on the Panama allegations – in a one-on-one meeting he is supposed to have expressed concern on Panama allegations impacting credibility of governance and national security. The embarrassment over offshore investments and financial assets of Nawaz Sharif’s children culminated in the Prime Minister making an impassioned defense in the National Assembly with evidence of his tax records (Rs 35.9million paid personally, and Rs 9.8 billion paid by the Sharif group,in the last 23 years). Unfortunately and not surprisingly, the 30 minute speech was bereft of details pertaining to the much-lambasted offshore companies in the name of his daughter, Maryam Sharif – the opposition remained unimpressed and the public is still to be genuinely convinced on the legitimacy of the meteoric rise of his declared assets from Rs 166 million in 2011, to Rs 261.6 million in 2012 and then to Rs 1.82 Billion by 2014 (all this, without including the Panama assets)! The Military has smelt blood and is happy to see the Prime Minister squirm with feeble offers to institute a joint parliamentary committee to clear his name in the face of outright disbelief by the opposition parties and the shadow pressure from the Military.
Given the Pakistani narrative, Nawaz Sharif ingenuously tried to threaten and drag in all opposition parties by suggesting simultaneous investigation for all those named and incriminated in the Panama list, hoping to drag in members from all parties in order to scare away the opposition from going, flat-out – while, the Military has been watching from the sidelines, licking its wounds and enjoying the insecurity and instability of the political classes, as in the eyes of common Pakistanis, the Pakistani Army emerges as the last bastion of upright leadership, and therefore, the sole and logical inheritor of Pakistan’s control.
The Pakistani Army uses such weak moment to drive its agenda and in the last civil-military apex committee’s meeting on national security it pushed through the reluctant authorisation of military-led counter-terrorism operations in Punjab that the Sharif brothers were resisting. In a thinly veiled reference to ‘Panamagate’, the Army Chief Raheel Sharif noted sagely, ‘Across-the-board accountability is necessary for the solidarity, integrity and prosperity of Pakistan. Pakistan’s armed forces will fully support every meaningful effort in that direction, which would ensure a better future for our next generations,’ – an unmistakable language that clearly points the accusing finger in a certain direction, in the fight between two key institutions, the Military and the Civilian Politicians, using the bugbear of Pakistan’s polity and endemic reality i.e. Corruption. Unquestionably, the round one goes to the Pakistani Military, with General Raheel Sharif’s term expected to end in September, chronologically – “Corruption”, may justbe that beating stick that comes into play by the Pakistani Military to rewrite the script and the ending (or the beginning?) in September 2016.
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