Raymond Davis was a professional mercenary who should not have been granted a visa even if he had a diplomatic passport. This was a collective failure of the state institutions whose job it was to monitor or scrutinise foreigners granted visas to enter Pakistan. What else could one expect from a killer who is allowed to enter the state with a diplomatic passport? It is the unfortunate people of this country who have to pay the price with their blood and confront the worst law and order problem in the history of Pakistan. The departure of Raymond Davis, however embarrassing it may be, is the not the major problem nor the issue that threatens our national security. The real issues that threaten Pakistan are corruption, terrorism, incompetence, religious intolerance, illiteracy and contempt for rule of law. Terrorism breeds from rampant corruption which facilitates the spread of weapons and the manner in which those who violate laws manage to get away with support of various factions within the civil or khaki bureaucracy and the political elite of this country. The shameful manner in which thousands of containers, some of them containing weapons and other contraband stuff, managed to get clear with fake documents and then get distributed without getting caught, should have shaken the state institutions.
The hundreds and thousands, who get killed in target killings at the hands of hired assassins in Karachi, is as brutal as the killing of innocent Pakistanis in Lahore by Raymond Davis.
Similarly, the unchecked drone attacks which have caused death of several thousands cannot be dismissed as collateral damage, but is a failure of the state to protect its sovereignty. Billions of dollars have been transferred to foreign bank accounts through illegitimate banking channels by few corrupt self-centred corrupt elements in the civil or khaki bureaucracy and the political elite. Laws are not being framed or enforced to check the massive tax evasion in Pakistan, which is a conspiracy to fail the state.
Pakistan’s elected and nominated executives have failed miserably to protect the plunder of state assets by the institutionalised corruption that prevails at the top level of every institution of the state. There is a paucity of funds for education, health and social sector development, not because these are not available, but because of massive pilferages and no accountability. Tax-payer funded state corporations like Railways, PIA, NICL, OGDC, NBP etc have been rendered bankrupt.
The state is threatened by moral vacuum which was evident when even the Hajjis were not spared and robbed while the executive is seen preventing the culprits from being held accountable. People of Pakistan look up to the Supreme Court which has a lot of credibility, but it alone cannot resolve the mammoth problems that threaten the state from within.
MALIK TARIQ
Lahore