Khurram2349
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The word “accountability” has once again been rocking Pakistan, thanks to the Panama Leaks against Nawaz Sharif and his family. His opponent Imran Khan and his party PTI, has built up their whole campaign against Nawaz Sharif on this sole issue of accountability and, after the findings of the JIT, seem to be on verge of success.
The question still remains that will the courts of Pakistan or the military establishment which have history of having soft corner towards Nawaz Sharif will for a change give a verdict against Nawaz Sharif or will he again be able to get his way out of trouble through some legal jugglery !
Also another important question is that lets assume that Nawaz Sharif and his family including her future Prime Minister progeny Maryam Nawaz do get disqualified by the court but then, will this start a process of accountability which can also disqualify other political elites including Zardari and his family whose corruption is proverbial not just in Pakistan but outside Pakistan as well! And what about so many other politicians, bureaucrats, judges, big business tycoons and of course military officers who been involved in corruption and looting the money of the public at one time or another!
The true essence and effectiveness of any accountability is that no. 1, it should start from the top and no.2, it should be across the board. In the 70 years history of Pakistan so many Governments have been toppled due to the reason of the corruption but unfortunately the Governments which followed them did make promises of full and fair accountability but instead indulged in even more corruption then before! This country has yet to see accountability in true sense at all! Hence due to lack of accountability the culture of corruption has become so much deep rooted in our society that it has become part and parcel of our life!
Today our country is indebted by foreign loans of more than US$ 70 billion. Half of our annual budget goes in paying the interest money on these loans! Our current Finance Minister is on record saying that more than US$ 200 billion dollars of Pakistanis are stacked up in Swiss banks! This is another story that he has practically done nothing to bring this money back! If we add the money of Pakistani corrupt elite in foreign banks other than the Swiss banks and further adding the numerous properties , including palaces, hotels, mansions and high risers all over the world bought by our ruling elite through corruption money then the figure of our looted wealth outside Pakistan will be much more than US$ 200 billion ! And we should also not forget the big estates within Pakistan of our ruling elite including the Raiwind Palaces of Sharifs, or Bilawal Houses of Zardaris !
The reality of Pakistan is that we are a country having more than 200 million people out of which 40 % live below poverty line and do not have access to one time meal, clean drinking water, electricity, gas, education and proper medical facilities, while on the other hand less than 5 % corrupt mafia holds most of the wealth of the nation!
Now is the time that someone should take bold steps and make sure that full and fair accountability is done in Pakistan. Imran Khan has taken initiative and so far he is successful in bringing Sharifs to the court in the Panama Leaks but much more is needed. For full and fair accountability the military establishment, judiciary, media and the civil society all have to be on same page and decide once and for all that they will not allow any corrupt leader to be in power. The most effective accountability will be the one which should start right from military themselves and then the judiciary. Both these institutions should look into their own house and any serving or retired person found guilty of corruption within military or judiciary should be immediately taken to task. The corrupt politicians always have this slogan in their defense that why there is only accountability of politicians and why not military or judiciary so in order to counter this logic , the accountability should start first from military and then judiciary and from there should be taken to all the politicians across the board , starting from politicians of Punjab first and then bringing down to smaller provinces as this is also another argument given by corrupt politicians of Sindh and Balochistan that it is only they who always are being targeted while politicians from Punjab are being spared ! A full and fair and across the board accountability process will shut such politicians. Once the political scene is free of corrupt politicians then the establishment and judiciary need to form a system of elections and accountability which ensure that only clean people can run the elections and any form of corruption in the country can be caught and punished quickly .
The establishment which may start such complete process of accountability is bound to face lot of international pressure especially from Western countries including USA and UK because they are the ones who have encouraged corruption in our country by supporting our corrupt elite and then saving their corrupt money in their own banks and selling them their properties! So these Western countries will try their best to sabotage any process which will assure fair accountability and conviction to the corrupt elite! For this our establishment should be ready not to take any international pressure and also try their best to take support from our friendly countries like China, Arabs and Turkey etc. in rooting out corruption and convicting the people who have looted the money of the country!
Finally, the public like to see accountability done and corrupt leaders to get punishment but at the same time they wish to see the change in their lives as well. The best way to satisfy the people of Pakistan will be to snatch all or part of the money looted by our corrupt elite and then use this money on the reduction of poverty. If this looted money is used for the development of poor regions like interior of Sindh, Baluchistan , KPK and Gilgit Baltistan , as these regions have been neglected in the past , then it will be so much beneficial for the unity of Pakistan as people of these regions have been so much mislead by their own corrupt national leaders who have used their grievances but themselves involved in mega corruption .
The 70 years of history of Pakistan is one of corruption and dishonesty by its leaders but let’s hope that time has come for a change and our next generations can feel proud to be citizens of a country where there is true accountability and corruption free society. Where there is a will there is a way!
The question still remains that will the courts of Pakistan or the military establishment which have history of having soft corner towards Nawaz Sharif will for a change give a verdict against Nawaz Sharif or will he again be able to get his way out of trouble through some legal jugglery !
Also another important question is that lets assume that Nawaz Sharif and his family including her future Prime Minister progeny Maryam Nawaz do get disqualified by the court but then, will this start a process of accountability which can also disqualify other political elites including Zardari and his family whose corruption is proverbial not just in Pakistan but outside Pakistan as well! And what about so many other politicians, bureaucrats, judges, big business tycoons and of course military officers who been involved in corruption and looting the money of the public at one time or another!
The true essence and effectiveness of any accountability is that no. 1, it should start from the top and no.2, it should be across the board. In the 70 years history of Pakistan so many Governments have been toppled due to the reason of the corruption but unfortunately the Governments which followed them did make promises of full and fair accountability but instead indulged in even more corruption then before! This country has yet to see accountability in true sense at all! Hence due to lack of accountability the culture of corruption has become so much deep rooted in our society that it has become part and parcel of our life!
Today our country is indebted by foreign loans of more than US$ 70 billion. Half of our annual budget goes in paying the interest money on these loans! Our current Finance Minister is on record saying that more than US$ 200 billion dollars of Pakistanis are stacked up in Swiss banks! This is another story that he has practically done nothing to bring this money back! If we add the money of Pakistani corrupt elite in foreign banks other than the Swiss banks and further adding the numerous properties , including palaces, hotels, mansions and high risers all over the world bought by our ruling elite through corruption money then the figure of our looted wealth outside Pakistan will be much more than US$ 200 billion ! And we should also not forget the big estates within Pakistan of our ruling elite including the Raiwind Palaces of Sharifs, or Bilawal Houses of Zardaris !
The reality of Pakistan is that we are a country having more than 200 million people out of which 40 % live below poverty line and do not have access to one time meal, clean drinking water, electricity, gas, education and proper medical facilities, while on the other hand less than 5 % corrupt mafia holds most of the wealth of the nation!
Now is the time that someone should take bold steps and make sure that full and fair accountability is done in Pakistan. Imran Khan has taken initiative and so far he is successful in bringing Sharifs to the court in the Panama Leaks but much more is needed. For full and fair accountability the military establishment, judiciary, media and the civil society all have to be on same page and decide once and for all that they will not allow any corrupt leader to be in power. The most effective accountability will be the one which should start right from military themselves and then the judiciary. Both these institutions should look into their own house and any serving or retired person found guilty of corruption within military or judiciary should be immediately taken to task. The corrupt politicians always have this slogan in their defense that why there is only accountability of politicians and why not military or judiciary so in order to counter this logic , the accountability should start first from military and then judiciary and from there should be taken to all the politicians across the board , starting from politicians of Punjab first and then bringing down to smaller provinces as this is also another argument given by corrupt politicians of Sindh and Balochistan that it is only they who always are being targeted while politicians from Punjab are being spared ! A full and fair and across the board accountability process will shut such politicians. Once the political scene is free of corrupt politicians then the establishment and judiciary need to form a system of elections and accountability which ensure that only clean people can run the elections and any form of corruption in the country can be caught and punished quickly .
The establishment which may start such complete process of accountability is bound to face lot of international pressure especially from Western countries including USA and UK because they are the ones who have encouraged corruption in our country by supporting our corrupt elite and then saving their corrupt money in their own banks and selling them their properties! So these Western countries will try their best to sabotage any process which will assure fair accountability and conviction to the corrupt elite! For this our establishment should be ready not to take any international pressure and also try their best to take support from our friendly countries like China, Arabs and Turkey etc. in rooting out corruption and convicting the people who have looted the money of the country!
Finally, the public like to see accountability done and corrupt leaders to get punishment but at the same time they wish to see the change in their lives as well. The best way to satisfy the people of Pakistan will be to snatch all or part of the money looted by our corrupt elite and then use this money on the reduction of poverty. If this looted money is used for the development of poor regions like interior of Sindh, Baluchistan , KPK and Gilgit Baltistan , as these regions have been neglected in the past , then it will be so much beneficial for the unity of Pakistan as people of these regions have been so much mislead by their own corrupt national leaders who have used their grievances but themselves involved in mega corruption .
The 70 years of history of Pakistan is one of corruption and dishonesty by its leaders but let’s hope that time has come for a change and our next generations can feel proud to be citizens of a country where there is true accountability and corruption free society. Where there is a will there is a way!
