From Jinnah to Tarar and Other Matters
THE outgoing year had already been reviewed by this newspaper editorially, by political analysts and has been duly chronicled. All I can say is that 1997, the golden jubilee year of our independence, brought no great joy when it dawned, nor yet when it ended with the election of Justice (Retd.) Rafiq Tarar as the President .
From Jinnah to Tarar. This just about sums up the story of 50 years of Pakistan 's independence. This is what we have done to ourselves. We certainly need no enemies, not even Mr. Bal Thackrey. He should just watch from his Mumbai fastness. We will do it ourselves. Jinnah created Pakistan . We created Bangladesh . Who says we are a nation of debt defaulters?
Let's now move on to other things. A friend wants me to share with you his thoughts on the bureaucracy. "Have you ever thought why bureaucrats are able to get away with everything, even murder?" he goes on to answer the question himself, "It's because they have what is known as 'discretionary powers'."
He then goes on to give some instances of babushahi . Our civil servants, he says, gave the sole right of importing gold into the country to a Dubai based Pakistani owned firm (you may have seen its owner presenting man-of-the-match awards in the recent Sharjah Cup Cricket matches). This was one of the two deals cancelled by the (present) government (the other one was the contract given for assessing import values to a Swiss company).
Sometimes, says my friend, these chaps (the bureaucrats) are so powerful that no one can do anything to them. Consider what is happening at the Karachi port. An American company has been given the right to make a container terminal. One would have had no objection had the job been given to the US company after tenders had been called. But the previous government simply threw all rules overboard. And although one of the aggrieved persons is a ruling party MNA, the (present) government can't cancel the contract because the Americans are involved.
"Has anyone ever thought of the tremendous loss the nation has incurred?" Asks my friend.
Another case cited by him is the award of a contract for the supply of printing inks by the government -contracted security printing press to a Swiss company; again in violation of rules (no tenders called, all established procedures held in abeyance). The bureaucrat involved, alleges my friend, was paid a handsome commission. Three of his sons, he further alleges, are studying at prestigious universities in the US , where tuition fee ranges from three to five thousand dollars a month.
Now what does my friend want? The least the government can do is to force the two Swiss companies to provide it with details of the kickbacks paid to the Pakistani bureaucrats. This happened in the Bofors Scandal in India . Apparently, European governments are required by law to keep detailed records of payments made under the table to secure business in other countries.
The Indian succeeded in securing details from Bofors, and trace the people involved in the shady deal. "Is it too much to hope that our government flex its muscles and get the required details as the Indian did?" he asks.
Well, I don't know about the rest of the country but here in the Punjab ; the bureaucrats have very few 'discretionary powers' left with them now. All power, discretionary or indiscretionary, flows the Chief Minister's house. The CM rules the roost. If a murder takes place in some divisional headquarters, the DIG is suspended from service. If there is a jailbreak in DG Khan , the I.G. Prisons is suspended from service.
Bureaucratic corruption of the type described by my friend is simply not possible without powerful political patronage. Corruption involving millions is not possible without this. So, dear friend, find the politicians involved in the case cited by you.
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WHAT, apart from their salaries, do legislators get? Well, they get travel vouchers. They get telephone, office maintenance, sumptuary, accommodation, daily and travelling allowances. They get free medical treatment for themselves and their families. They get exemption from paying toll taxes levied by the government or a local body. The chairmen of various house committees get official cars plus monthly petrol allowance of Rs. 8,000.
Dawn chose the following item for its "50 years Ago Today" on New Year's Day:
KARACHI : The ministers of the Government of Pakistan have decided on FURTHER (emphasis added) reduction in their salaries with immediate effect in view of the need for economy and the conservation of the country's finances.
A press communiqué issued in this connection says: ". . . Realizing the need for all-round economy, and the conservation of our finances with a view to their being utilised towards the security of the state, and the many and pressing nation-building activities that have to be undertaken, the Ministers of the Government of Pakistan have decided on a further reduction in their salaries from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 3, 000. . . . with immediate effect. . . .
. . . The government most earnestly appeals to officials, civil and military . . . to voluntarily agree to an appropriate reduction in their salaries.
Fifty years ago, the federal ministers volunteered a 30 per cent cut in their salaries. That was the spirit of forty seven. Today's legislators demand, and get, a 30 per cent raise without doing the work for which they were elected. In fact, very few of them even bother to attend when a house is in session.
The Punjab chief minister is fond of suspending bureaucrats from service even when they are not directly at fault. Why doesn't he do the same to party MPAs who don't attend the assembly sessions? We have absentee landlords. The worthy members of our assemblies are absentee lawmakers. This is the Spirit of 97.
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THE World Bank wants that the electricity rates in Pakistan should be increased by 45 percent. This is a crazy proposal. As it is, I have to pay so much for water, gas, electricity, and telephone that very little is left for me and my family to spend on food, clothing, health, and education. And entertainment? No way.
Does the World Bank have no idea what the average Pakistani makes as a daily wage earner or as a salaried person who is paid by the month? Supposing a middle income Pakistani makes $ 100 a month and is paying $ 10 for electricity. Should he pay $ 14.5 instead? The World Bank proposal amounts in fact to a call to 95 percent Pakistanis to do without electricity. My power bill is around Rs. 2,000 a month on the average.
Should I now pay Rs. 2,900 and eat grass (which is not for free, either) or live on air? Polluted air at that?
Has the World Bank ever compared the per capita electricity consumption in the U.S. with that in Pakistan , or the per capita income in the U.S. with that in this country? Does it want us Pakistanis to go back to the pre-electricity era? What does the average American pay for power consumption? And if the World Bank proposal is accepted, won't there be an across the board increase in prices? As it is, two square meals a day are beyond the reach of most Pakistanis.
Do you remember the old song, Dill de ke dekho, dill de ke dekho, dill de ke dekho ji ?
The World Bank wants us to sing bill de ke dekho, bill de ke dekho, bill de ke dekho ji .
PS: Soon after I had finished this piece, I picked an old novel by Aldous Huxley. Leafing through it, I came upon the following sentence:
"Come, then, let us frankly admit that we are the citizens of this mean city, make the worst of it resolutely and try not to escape."
Sunday , January 4, 1998
