Today we stand embarrassed, insecure and economically dented because of the wrong policies that were framed by men like Zia-ul-Haq and Musharraf. These rulers compromised our national security when they allowed Arabs, Uzbeks, Afghans, Indians etc to enter Pakistan just because they were Muslims and stay here indefinitely because it suited their myopic vision of national interests. As a consequence of such policies individual khakis like Zia-ul-Haq, Akhtar Abdur Rehman, Chisthi, Mansoor-ul-Haq, Arif, Musharraf etc became billionaires, while Pakistan ended up a country flooded with the menace of illegal weapons, drugs, terrorism, extremism, sectarian and ethnic divide.
Had these so-called Afghan War warriors been forced to leave this country, Pakistan would not have had to endure the humiliation it suffered on May 2 in Abbottabad. Those who are guilty must be made to pay for their sins and in case they are dead, their ill-gotten billions should be confiscated if we want to set a precedent that such crimes against the state will never pay in the long run.
Our security and sovereignty demands that our politicians, civil and khaki bureaucracy submit to rule of law and moral code of ethics laid down not only in the constitution, but are universally followed in other democratic societies. Every institution of the state must confine to the specific role assigned to them, and there should be zero tolerance for corruption and those holding public office but have their assets located abroad.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
