CAUSES OF CORRUPTION AND REMEDIAL MEASURES
The question is can a person who is caught up in a dust-strom be helped to inhale pure oxygen? When thick clouds of pungent smoke hover around will there be any safer haven available be breathe fresh air? It is fact that surrounded by filth, much and smog no effort to remain clean is likely to succeed. In a densely populated urban town, no one escapes the polluted environment poisoned by dust raised by the traffic, gases emitted by vehicles and wastes released by factories and small time workshops. The state of affairs goes from bad to worse regardless of the anti-pollution measures taken by the civic authorities and passage of Laws for the prompt disposal of wastes that are harmful to humans, animals and vegetation. The kind of conclusion these ground realities lead us to is that our lifestyle is shaped by the circumstances we live in .. Similarly our individual and social behaviour, conduct habits inter relationships, approaches to our official,commercial and national responsibilities is determind by the system in which we are made to spend our lives. The system prevalent in Pakistan has taken the whole nation hostage andnationals are obliged to function within the parameters set by it. Corrupsion is one of its outstandings conditions in vogue ever-since the birth of Pakistan.The systems is feudalism with its aversion to democracy, literacy, equtiable distribution of wealth and Islamic way of life and mainspring of corruption that is aggravating with the passage of time.
What is corruption?
In plain words corruption is an act done by an individual or a group of peolpe or an organization or a government in power in pursuance of monetary benefits, grabbing influence and power to promote personal gains-all through illegitimate means violating the law of the land, norms of social, religious and political ethics, denying human rights and inflicting losses on others for personal reasons. With this definition at hand the question that arises is who is capable of doing all this. Is that the poor and powerless persons or the people who have the intention, means and ability to trample mercilessly upon the rights of others? Doubtlessly, in Pakistan, persons who wield all such powers are a few thousand jagirdars, waders, choudhries, landlords, khans, sardars- about 50,00 feudal lords according to a rough estimate who hold the reins of the fate of the entire nation. Feudalism, as such, is the source from which corruption reduates all around.
Mainspring of corruption
Pakistan is now in existence for a pretty long period. During far lesser periods the South Asian have achieved 100% education while Pakistan continues to be 33% illiterate. Their political systems are set on firm grounds but our democratic targets are still in a state of flux. They have multiplied their wealth many hundred times and bade farewell to poverty, Pakistan is dominated by few ultra rich potentates on the one hand and teeming millions caught up in a vortex of poverty, on the other. The Islamic system for which Pakistan was demanded has been kept at bay by the prevailing feudalistic order. So long as it has its sway, democracy will never come to Pakistan, because feudalism is anti-democratic in nature. Concentration of wealth in fewer hands will continue unabated because by nature it is set to grab power and resources leaving little for the massses. It blocks the coming of Islam through every conceivable manipilation because it is patently an anti-Islamic order.Islam lays down limits of wealth and property to which it would never reconcile. Islam recognizes human rights of men and women which it denies and tends to keep them in a state of serfdom. Consequently, if the system is permitted to persist, state of corruption will go from bad to worse gradually. No anti-corruption policy will ever succeed as it has been amply demonstrated in the past. Any Anti-corruption measure that was ever adopted, ultimately went up in smoke.
The scourge of corruption was identified at the very birth of Pakistan by no less a person than Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He said,' One of the biggest curses from which the country is suffering is bribery and corruption. We must put it down with an iron hand. "Sadly the warning was not heeded during the decades for which Pakistan has lived so far . Why the warning of the Father of the Nation was disregarded is a question that no one is prepared to answer. Instead of containing and eliminating corruption it has actually been promoted in a big way. Today it has assumed such alarming proportions that Senator S.M. Zafar, an eminent lawman, a jurist, a constitutionalist, had to remark that Pakistan had become 'tsunami' of corruption and it had penetrated all areas of human life. He said so on the occasion of the celebration of International Anti-corruption Day obeserved on 9 December 2006.a seminar on 'Review and anti corruption Efforts in Pahkistan was held which presided over by Chief justic (r) Dr javed Iqbal and attened by eminent and high profile intellactuals of the country.In his adress Dr javed said;"we talk and grumble about corruption but do not take tangible steps to weed out this menace from the society.Other also spoke and gave deefferent evidence to prove that corruptionwas rampant in the country but none dare to suggest how best to get to rid of this menace.A few routine suggetion were , however , mad the meant too fill in the blanks only and were not of any real practical significance.
History of anti-corruption measures
Corruption has assumed alarming proportions despite the fact that efforts to eliminate this vice took start in 1947 the very year of the birth Pakistan. Under the Anti-corruption Act of 1947, anti-corruption courts were step which themselves turned out to agents corruption,Why it happened so and what actions were taken against those who engineered the failure of these courts?No one cared to explain in the seminar.In pursuance of the protests of the common man who suffered at the hands of the corrupt at all levels, Ehtsab Commision was created and a year later Ehsab Bureau was set up to supplement the Commission.Both failed for the various reasons. What were the reasons of thirv faliutre, no one cared to proved into.What actins were taken aghainst who ensured the unfortune end of the Commission and the Bureau,no one cared the mention.
The next m,ajor action to fight corrupton was the replacement of Ehtsab Bureau by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in November 1999.This powerfull body has now been in existance for about six year.How much of corruption it has managed to control during this period? this was medicate S.M Zafar's statement mentioned above, which is a very sad reflection on the performance of NAB. Instead of scaling it down the NAB has perhaps become instrumental in converting a low intensity storm in to a devastating holocaust. One of it approaches to stem corruption, is to get hold of a big fish, make it cough part of the booty it has gobbled and let to it go. The result is that instead of discouraging corruption it has virtually encouraged it. The offender surrenders part of the ill-gotten wealth in favor of the government and keeps the rest it as his legitimate share. He has not been subjected to any kind of punishment. This sets a road map for the corrupt who are engaged in multi-billion worth of malpractices to go ahead confidently with the only fear that eventually they might have to share a part of their grabbed wealth with the government, which they would happily prefer to do. The question is: how for this approach of NAB is morally, ethically, legally and religiously justified and how much of the corruption it has been able to control through such compromises? What right the government has over this black money that is appropriates through ignoble act of give and take with looters of nation’s wealth. Isn’t it a case of fit for the Supreme Court to take ‘so motion’ action? With this sort of negative approach, NAB is bound to fail and the meet the unfortunate fate of its predecessors.
China’s example
Dr. Jived Iqbal made a very significant remark when he pointed out that China weeded out corruption with stringent punishment like death for this crime. Can we do it in Pakistan under the prevailing circumstances? What he learned Justice didn’t disclose that even China could not do this before 1949 during the days of Chiang KY Sheki when the country was in the grip of feudalism. It could do so only after the great communist revolution in which aristocracy was completely eliminated and rule of the common man was established. How can Pakistan take such stringent measures when feudalism, the source of all corruption, is completely in control of our national affairs?
Apart from the compromise option, the other punishment being awarded is to banish the corrupt from the country so that during their stay there the can freely enjoy the blessings of the looted wealth and at the same time reap rich harvest of peoples’ sympathies and continue to drum up their piety harp on the incompetence and unpopularity of the regime in power and wait for its doomsday to return triumphantly home with fanfare. Since corruption starts from the above and seeps down to the common man, therefore, the will not fall short of followers they have managed to corrupt during their hay days. Even now people know what they are but that is immaterial to them. What matters to them is a corrupt fellow sitting on top so that they may also be free to indulge in all kinds of bad practices such as dacoits, kidnapping for ransom, rape, murders, looting the passerby, breaking into houses, taking bribes rendering illegal services in exchange for fate packets of currency notes carrying the noble image of the Quaid.
Stringent actions are taken and executed in a society of people with clean hands. When everyone has been corrupted in one sense or the no one has the moral courage to implement hard punishments? A crowd that was ready to stone a convict to death when told that the first stone will be hurled by a person who had never committed a sin in life, became stunned, threw away their stones and departed from homes with heads hanging in shame leaving the condemned bewildered standing all alone in the death pit. In Pakistan where a person morally qualified to pass a death sentence against a corrupt and where would one find a hangman to execute him.
Magnitude of corruption in Pakistan
The latest Transparency International Report reveals that Pakistan today ranks 127th out of 177 countries in the domain of corruption. Ten years ago it ranked 87th. This shows that corruption is rising like a whirlwind which is gathering force and speed to become tornado without any sign of abatement. It is more prevalent in our elitist political system, which is dominated by politicians from the feudal and affluent business classes. Having admitted this stark reality, the analysts of the problem have lot of brilliant suggestions for combating corruption. While the number of such suggestion multiples, the corruption too manages to get manifold. It is so because such suggestions are academic in nature and have no practical worth. Even then if they have to be implemented, who has the authority and power to do so? Obviously the anti-corruption agencies were appointed from time to time. But we have also observed that these watch dogs only bark and not bite. They either themselves fell to the lure of corruption or joined the pack of thieves whom they were set to catch or just went out of business due to incompetence.
How to follow China’s example
If china’s example is to be followed, first create a Pakistan of post-revolution China. There it was communism that worked the miracle of freeing the common man from the yoke of the feudal lord. Here it will be the force of Islamic democracy-pure democracy as advocated by the Holy Quran. Results achieved will be much better than what were achieved by China under the system it believed in.
The fact is hundred thousand anti-corruption suggestions that have been put forth so far and equal number or more than that may be thrown up in future, will be a little avail unless the axe is made to hit the root cause of the menace. China’s worthy example has been quoted above which could control corruption through stringent measures. Why can’t Pakistan do the same? China first created proper environment in which it became possible to take tougher actions. China’s revolutions of 1949 came in the wake of the philosophy Communism that eliminated the elitists, the source of all corruption, and empowered the common man with a bunch of devoted Party leaders on top who nursed only one ambition that is make to China great and strong, which they did. They were the proud people with immaculate character fired with the aim to serve people. As such they could take stringent actions without fear or favor. Mao Zedong liberated China from its feudal past and successor led it into the 21st century with its socio-capitalized reforms. Modern China with its population of 1.3 billion is self-sufficient in food which means it feeds 22 percent of the world population from only 10% of the world’s arable land. Its rate of economic growth is phenomenal, which is evident from the figures given below.
China’s GDP growth is around 10% on an average. Its annual exports are over 760 billion dollars. It has foreign exchange reserves of almost on trillion dollars to which annually adds another 160 million dollars- ten times what we in Pakistan have been to accumulate over the past six years. One of every two cameras in the world, out of every three televisions, out of every four washing machines and out of every five refrigerators has being manufactured in China. Out of every ten pairs of shoes imported into US, originate from China.
Population growth which once blocked the rapid economic growth has being controlled by following a policy one child per family. China consumes more energy than Japan and is only second to oil thirsty US. For this purpose it relies heavily on indigenous coal (64 percent). The opening chapter of China’s 11th Five Year Plan states, “Major development targets have been achieve ahead of time, China intends to be both the socialist tortoise and the capitalist hare, at the same time,” Although China has privatized many of its state enterprises, it has not created a hyper class of multi-billionaires. Wealth has yet to each up with power which continues to rests with Chinese communist Party. In pursuance of a policy of liberalization thus being pursued, sentiments for Marxism have little place in China.
LESSONS LEARNT FROM CHINA’S EXAMPLE
Lesson one
China would economic strength and political power of today had it remained chained to feudalistic order risen to. never have heights of
Lesson two
Any persons lesser then the stature of Mao Zedong followed by an equally competent leadership could not have rung feudalism and rung in the revolution of common man’s rule.
Lesson three
It was stringent population control policy of one family one child that helped China to bring rapid growth rate of population to a halt that enabled it to record miraculous economic progress within a short span of only three decades. (Pakistan’s population on independence was 3.5 crores that has risen to 16 crores within six decades and is now poised to become 25 crores within the next years’ time. With such a fast growing population resources cannot catch up with rapidly rising population. Progress is stalled. Poverty worsens).
Lesson four
China put each and every individual to work. Men look up tougher jobs while women were put on softer jobs in accordance with their physical and mental ability.
Lesson five
Wealth was not allowed to concentrate in fewer hands. It was made to circulate equitably among the entire population.
Lesson six
Substantial percentage of GDP was allocated for education under successive five year plans. Nature of education was largely professional and technological.
Lesson seven
China concentrated on development of export oriented industries for which the development of required kind of technology was ensured. China depended mostly on domestic energy resources.
Lesson eight
The entire nation stood as one whole. There were no ideological differences among the people and any inter-province clashes and disharmony.
The end result
The moral of the abolition of feudalism is that today prosperous China is completely free of the vice of corruption. It is economically strong and politically a super power of the near future. It is well set to challenge the supremacy of the US.
A critical question
The question is can Pakistan benefit from Chinese experience. Answer is a big YES. China transformed then philosophy of Marxism into the ideology of Communism which further changed to embrace the blessings of capitalistic system. It was a God less system of statecraft. It was an anti-religious religion that provided solid base to work upon by a leader of solid worth. China was doubly fortunate to have Moa Zedong to give the ideology a practical shape and his follower Deng Xiaoping who proved to be a worthy successor who led China into 21st century with essential economic reforms.
We have observed that there are two pre-requisites without which Pakistan cannot hope to step into Chinese shoes. The first one is the existence of an ideological base. Pakistan is in possession of a God-blessed of Islamic Welfare State based upon the massage of Quran and Sunnah, which is much more powerful than Communism. It is also because communism caters for man’s material requirements to the absolute neglect of his spiritual needs without which human life remains dry and unbalanced.
It is however, the second requisite where Pakistan finds itself standing in a blind alley. The nation needs the emergence of a man of destiny to rally around himself the entire population as a symbol of unquestionable unity during his life time. Hs should continue live in their hearts long after his death. Quoting China’s example, meet anyone in Beijing, the only name that is unanimously accepted as the promoter of the miraculous economic progress of the country is Deng Xiaoping. Go anywhere in China. You will not find people wearing Mao’s traditional dress but that matters little. He lies enshrined in the heart of Modern China. That is what makes all the difference. After the early death of Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan is spending its days in an orphanage being supervised by callous, greedy, power-hungry, fascistic and dictatorial feudal lord.
Nation awaits the coming of a Man of Destiny
Modern Pakistan should better be called a relic of the past and a country of the dark ages which is desperately awaiting the arrival of a Voltaire, a Lenin, a Mao, a Khomeini or the rebirth of the Quaid-e-Azam to put an end to feudalism the mother of all social, economic, political and human ills, including corruption. What actually is being awaited is the renaissance of true system of Islamic faith. Our religious leadership is hardly qualified to bring about the desire change, for two reasons. One: Pakistan is their step son. Majority of them opposed its emergence during the Pakistan Movement. They are now putting up with it unwillingly. Two: even if they were patriotic Pakistanis they would not be able to contribute to the revival of Islam in the country. They lack the required leadership qualities. Each one of them is a devotee of some kind of a self-styled Islam. They themselves are not a united force. How can they unite the Ummah. Their knowledge of the Holy Quran is superficial. How can they enlighten the common man’s mind in favor of an Islamic State when they themselves are ignorant of its parameters? They all know what is un-Islamic. None of them really knows what is Islamic. Not a single religious has so far defined the concept of an Islamic system fit for Pakistan. None has declared a road map to reach the destination. They are simply not capable of doing that.
They kind of Islam that our religious leaders preach have led to sectarianism and fundamentalism. They produce bigoted sons of Islam who unleash untold atrocities on the humanity in the name of Jihad. They commit suicidal attacks and kill themselves and fellow Muslims in the name of Islam. They preach unity and practice sectarianism. They send out frantic calls for Jihad and promote terrorism. They practice religious feudalism and as such have become devoted of country’s feudal lords. When they declare that there is no limit on the ownership of wealth and property, they in fact invoke Islam to support feudalism.
The man of destiny may be with or without a beard but he shall certainly be the kind of a leader whose voice will be heard and respected even the farthest corners of the entire country. His concept of the Islamic state will fire the imagination of the common man that will set in motion a powerful movement to carve out a democratic order as per God’s commandments. The clergy will oppose him tooth and nail as a matter of their tradition and also to save their respective strongholds which are source of their influence and that of bread and butter. But they will soon disappear like straws in the wind along with the patronage of their feudal lords. The clerics will certainly protest against his population control policy it will, of course, not be based upon Chinese model. Islamic way of life has its own naturally inbuilt methods of population control. Two children per family permitted to keep the brother-sister and allied relationships intact. One child per family will create problems for Chinese society, eventually which they have to revise.
Conclusion
Concluding, we may use Shakespearean expression to say, feudalism thy name is corruption. A feudalistic state is a corrupt state. It has provincial Assemblies and a Parliament composed of General Assembly and the Senate, as in today’s Pakistan, both dominated by the feudal who manage to reach there through a so called democratic process that is their own hand maid. Powered with monopoly over material resources, fired with absolute authority to rule over millions, treasured with tons of money to buy required number of votes, armed with Kalashnikov carrying body guards to intimidate opponents into submission, they secure their seats in Halls of Democracy as MNAs and MPAs as a routine matter. After establishing their political strongholds as such, whatever they do is for self-promotion only. Voters are forgotten. National interests are put aside. That explains why our nation has remained illiterate, poverty has reinged supreme, common man’s life, property and honor has fallen victim to feudalistic anti-social practices. Suicides, rapes, dacoities, murders, abductions and kidnappings for ransom have become common all under their very nose, but they are not bothered. They indulge in high profile corruption that seeps down blow to corrupt the entire nation. Brakes are applied to the economic growth and whatever GDP is somehow created is eaten up by them through devious means.
The above observation leads us to only one conclusion. The country will never be able to make headway in any field of its life unless it gets rid of feudalism. This is a cancer that demands surgical operation, a big change that uproots feudalism and turns Pakistan into a Islamic Welfare State. To bring about such a great change the emergence of a man of destiny is needed who will achieve 100% education, equitable distribution of wealth to the complete elimination of poverty, restore the human rights of all sections of the society, and ensure social, administrative and economic justice at all levels. He will establish God’s kingdom which means empowerment of the common man. Assemblies and the government will be manned by true representative of the people and enforcement of Islamic laws which of course does not mean the application of un-Islamic practices that have, in the past, led to the distortion of the true and fair image of Islam. That shall be real democratic Pakistan looking after the material as well as spiritual needs of its citizens. Concentration of wealth, political power and authority of discretion in fewer hands, will be strictly guarded against.
