CORRUPTION AND THE IMPORTED GOVERNMENT
The imported government, which came to power through “defections”, completed two three months in office with a long list of corruption scandals that dashed the hopes of good administration and the promise of a double-engine government for the State.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif promised a double-engine government to the State. But instead of that, what we got was a corrupt government and maladministration on all fronts, right from handling the pandemic to floods. Corruption had been reported in transfer of officials.
The imported government has been relentlessly pursuing corruption allegations against opposition leaders. Raids and summons intensify especially when an election is around the corner. But this is not a fight against corruption because if it was one, it wouldn’t spare ots own leaders accused of corruption.
Never before such a blatant attempt was made by a political family to hold a probe agency to ransom, “Corruption manifests itself in various forms in Pakistan, including widespread financial and political corruption, nepotism, and misuse of power. Both petty and grand corruptions are prevalent in the country” (Chene, 2008). Corruption clouds almost all tiers of government; it is all pervasive and deeply entrenched.
PPP leader Sharjeel Inam Memon and Ali Dar, son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif and son of Ishaq Dar, had no status of their own. “In fact, they were the custodians of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari’s ill-gotten money An anti-graft court in Pakistan indicted former President Asif Ali Zardari and declared ex-premier Nawaz Sharif an absconder in corruption cases.
According to one estimate the loss made to the national exchequer is over Rs. 200 billion per annum. This loss is caused collectively by all the government departments but the most prominent amongst them as per the Perception Survey carried out by Transparency International Pakistan are:
- Power Sector
- Tax and Customs
- Police and Law Enforcement
- Judiciary and Legal Profession
- Health and Education
- Land Administration
And when corruption affects the institution of the last resort that is the judiciary the country loses its track and direction. Absence of a fair judicial system does not affect the individual litigant alone it affects the whole economy where domestic and foreign investments shy away for fear of usurpation and misappropriation.. The worst of all is a break down of law and order because of pervasive corruption in police and lower judiciary.
“Corruption is not a problem that can be attacked in isolation. It is not sufficient for the criminal law to search for bad apples and punish them. Of course, the state may need to establish credibility by punishing highly visible corrupt officials, but the goal of such prosecutions is to attract notice and public support, not solve the underlying problem
