Not only has the government summarily dismissed the Transparency International Pakistan’s Report that corruption of Rs 6-7 billions was being committed every day, it has ridiculed the NAB Chairman Fasih Bokhari’s statement of supporting this charge by publishing a position paper today. The NAB chief has made, it seems, many enemies within the ruling party. Obviously, the impression is that those who are strongly resisting this move would have skeletons to hide, for otherwise why would members of the ruling class who are supposed to stand by an impartial NAB ever object to such a noble undertaking. The federal cabinet has responded by setting up a 4-member committee to find out whether there is substance in these charges and why the NAB chief has made the claim.
Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira tried to philosophise these charges with the argument that civilian governments of the past had faced politically motivated mudslinging but this time around the rot had made its presence felt by almost weakening to the core a number of crucial revenue generating institutions of the country. So saying that these claims and reports are merely an exaggeration or an attempt to tarnish the image of the PPP would be unjust. The culture of loot and plunder going on throughout the officialdom is hard to hide. It must now be stamped out by the NAB. The best that the cabinet can do is to let the names of the errant members come to public notice.