It is Anna Hazare of India, an ordinary farmer with integrity and belonging to Hindu faith, who has taken upon himself the task of eradicating corruption in India and holding everybody accountable for their misdeeds.
He claims to be a follower of Mahtama Gandhi and went on a nine-day fast in June this year to press for his demands. Hazare has again threatened to go on fast until death on 16 August if parliament fails to pass such a law. This has forced all political parties to hold a meeting and agree to draft a law with no immunity for the Prime Minister or members of his cabinet. The only people exempted from this law of accountability are judges of superior courts.
In Pakistan, today there is hardly any politician, or any other individual, who can claim to be torch bearer of either Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s vision and ideals of Pakistan, or the philosophy of Allama Iqbal. This explains the culture of loot and unchecked plunder by the corruption mafia that defies laws, the constitution and orders of Supreme Court. Most of those associated with these two bodies are men who have no commitment to the ideals and visions of these pioneers of our freedom movement.
SHAHZAD KHALIL
Sialkot
(II)
Apropos of the letters by Gull Zaman and Malik Tariq on the issue of corruption that today has destroyed Pakistan from within. Just look at the tolerance for accommodating the corrupt in this country because the ruling elite and a pliant bureaucracy do not want to set a precedent which may come to haunt them.
Those who rob the state of billions use this looted money to hire the best lawyers, launch a public relations campaign and manage to get away on technicalities. I am sure there are banking laws that regulate banking in this country and if an individual deposits something like Rs 35 crores in a fictitious account, and then this money is transferred from this account to some other titled account in NICL scam, how can nobody in that bank notice it? Where is the State Bank and its regulatory control, or are we a haven for money launderers waiting to be declared a pariah or a failed state?
Let justice be done, even if heavens were to fall.
MIR TASSADAQ
Lahore
