Institutions matter
According to Imran Khan, NAB should become an independent body; however, at the same time he rubbishes the constitution, parliament and the judiciary
A few days ago, I came across a joke that essentially captures the recent controversy surrounding the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s alleged role in encouraging corruption and politicisation of the institution due to its inapt performance. The joke goes like this: a citizen writes a letter to the NAB chairman informing that he is planning corruption of worth Rs500 million, and requests the chairmen that if he could let him know about his “plea bargain” amount based on this sum so that he is aware of how much he could save after he is caught. In the end, the concerned citizen thanks the accountability bureau for its corruption friendly services.
The accountability body landed in hot waters after offering a plea bargain to Baluchistan’s provincial secretary in a mega corruption case. Since then the organisation has been criticised for its politicised, ineffective and inefficient role to deal with corruption in the country. Last week, the Supreme Court of Pakistan went as far as saying that the Bureau was actually “facilitating corruption in the country.” Previously, the chief minister of Punjab and the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) jabbed the organisation by terming its plea bargain move as a “fraud” and “shameful” respectively; others have condemned NAB’s existence by calling it the remnants of a military dictator which was formed to facilitate his rule.
There are talks of brining reforms to NAB’s law to make it more accountable. In this regard, the consensus among political parties is not likely to take long for the government and opposition ranks are filled with corrupt and crooked leaders which would be more than willing to ensure that the organisation bows down to the country’s political leadership.
In the existing legal and political setting, the last thing one can expect from the country’s political leadership is their willingness to offer themselves for accountability without politicising the institutional work in process. The calls to turn the organisation into an independent body does not answer the basic argument of why the likes of NAB – in different roles and capacities – have failed to perform and deliver when all constitutional independence was at their disposal. Why institutions like the judiciary, FBR, police and others stay vulnerable to political pressures while imperfection defines their role at best?
If one is to go with the political leadership’s criticism of the organisation for not following neutrality in its action then how can one ensure impartial accountability of all civilian leadership when majority of them are bent upon hiding their own sleaze? Why has it only occurred now that NAB’s law was found faulty? Why couldn’t the political leadership sort out the necessary legislature that should form the basis of impartial accountability?
While the role of the NAB in curtailing corruption has remained questionable, the imprudent reaction of the political leadership is only a response to the former’s earlier attempts to hold some of the political leadership accountable. NAB’s last year’s flurry of action against the PPP and other political parties was termed as political victimisation; and when the action came to Punjab, the Sharif brothers led PML-N vilified the organisation by alleging that the Bureau was creating hurdles in the country’s progress.
To some extent, it’s justifiable to critique the NAB’s work, but how can one unknot the political leadership’s historic undue interference and pressures in other institutions’ work which has invariably created obstructions in their constitutional roles? Before scrutinising the Bureau for a defect whose liability rests on civvies legislative powers, one should ask this question: was the issue of Panama leaks – among other corruption scandals –politicised to influence judiciary’s work and undermine the parliament’s position? Objective: to squabble the scandal as any other issue that has no value beyond political victimisation; hence, put the accountability process in a compromising position which leaves it susceptible to different sorts of influence.
There are talks of bringing reforms to NAB’s law to make it more accountable. In this regard, the consensus among political parties is not likely to take long for the government and opposition ranks are filled with corrupt and crooked leaders
According to Imran Khan, NAB should become an independent body; however, at the same time he rubbishes the constitution, parliament and the judiciary. For Khan, an independent NAB should look like an organisation that only focuses on the PML-N or whoever else happens to be in power. For the Sharif brothers, NAB is only a leftover of a dictator. However, the Sharif brothers – even after a two third majority in the parliament – have neither been able to formulate consensus to deal with corruption nor have they formed any other institution that may deal with it fittingly.
In Pakistan, the widespread culture of poking into other institutions’ work and pressuring rules of “checks and balances” has clearly undermined institution building, which reflects in their compromising work ethic thereafter. One of the main reasons that NAB was able to clamp down on some political leaders last year was due to the former military chief’s encouraging role that offered the organisation some backbone. Why were military courts needed when a thriving judicial system exists in the country? Perhaps the reason is a familiar one: political, social and cultural pressures that the civilian leadership has burgeoned since the partition continue to overwhelm the former. When civilian leadership itself rips apart constitutional legitimacy from institutions like NAB – and others – it’s not surprising that the latter is forced to make plea bargains.
Unless all political actors play their due constitutional roles that also involves the political leaderships’ non-interference in other institutions work, corruption would continue to loom large thrive in Pakistan.
