To further emphasise upon his declared resolve to ensure that an ‘across-the-board’ accountability process is unleashed to root out corruption from the country, the Army Chief has made public the names of the high military officials who have been sacked for corrupt practices. This should silence those mouths that frequently use the ‘proverbial’ phrase ‘sacred cows’ to malign the armed forces of Pakistan. The fact is that the Military is the only national institution in which an accountability process is always operative. This general has only powered this process with greater resolve and sense of purpose.
The reports are that more names are soon to hit the headlines to put pressure upon arguably one of the most corrupt governments in the world. One of the distinctive feature of a corrupt government is that it is manned by cronies who function as extended arms of the chief executive. Rules are always made ‘subordinate’ to discretion in such a government. Look at the composition of the cabinet of Mian Nawaz Sharif! At least half a dozen ministers and ‘ministerial hopefuls’ have only one responsibility. To abuse Imran Khan on the one hand and to spread subtle anti-Army propaganda on the other hand.
Time has come to disqualify all such politicians from becoming office-holders of the government who are either directly or indirectly beneficiaries of running businesses. Pakistan of the future—- one that people have in their imagination—one that General Raheel Sharif and Imran Khan claim to create—cannot afford to ignore the phrase “Conflict of Interest”. Political power and money-making can simply not go together. The Corruption of a Chief Executive not engaged directly in business operations and money-making will always be dwarfed by the Corruption of a Chief Executive presiding over a business empire (run by his family and friends)
It is unfair to expect a businessman-prime minister not to be corrupt.
