In Surah Bani Israil, Ayat 11, Quran says, "Man should make for good, he maketh for evil." Omar Khayyam had said, "Did ever mortal pass a sinless day." Corruption has been present in this world from time immemorial. Unfortunately corruption had started soon after the creation of Pakistan by grabbing evacuee properties on bogus claims. Ayub's Khan era brought massive industrialisation and prosperity in the affluent class. Resultantly corruption crept in bureaucracy and the members of Basic Democracies. Finally, he disqualified well-entrenched politicians through the EBDO. Yahya Khan haphazardly fired 303 officers. PPP came into power in 1971 and Bhutto dismissed 1300 senior officers in a very arbitrary manner and he also finished their constitutional guarantee of service. Corruption amongst the politicians had increased manifold with no accountability. In Ziaul Haq's period corruption in bureaucracy and politicians further increased with no organised accountability. There was no improvement in the collective morality of the nation though merciless lashing of the so-called criminals was carried out in open spaces. His Islamisation programme brought nothing but hypocrisy in the sociology of Pakistan. Later during 1985 to 1998, corruption broke all its previous records in all walks of life. By design, thousands and thousands of residential plots were allotted to influential politicians, bureaucrats, etc in relaxation of rules, trading of politicians became order of the day, profitable units were sold at rock bottom prices, thousands of jobs were given to the supporters without merit and loans to the tune of billions were waived off liberally. In 1999, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf imposed martial law and promulgated the National Accountability Ordinance. With the exception of the first three years of his rule, overbearing nature of his legacies include many cases of 'mega corruptions', shameful and disgraceful scandals i.e. Stock Exchange, wheat export/import, sugar, allotment of Gwadar and D I Khan lands, privatisation of Steel Mill, waiving off billions of rupees for the sake of political expediencies etc. With the induction of the present government, gossiping about the corruption on privatisation of Dadu Sugar Mill, Qadirabad Gas Fields, illegal extraction of huge amount from certain affluent persons and appointments of some notorious persons on key posts are the topics of discussion everywhere. Ironically almost all previous actions were focused on bureaucracy and politicians but industrialists, traders and businessmen remained sacred cows and they amassed enormous wealth through evasions and stealing of taxes and managed waiver off loans in billions. Hobbes, an English political thinker, had said, "Man is essentially selfish, he is moved to action not by his intellect or reason, but by his appetites, desires and passions." Therefore, the state has to regulate and control his evil desires through laws and religion has to advocate certain moral codes for helping the poor and delivering justice to all. Plato had said, "Law is the rule over the rulers." Impediments to accountability are: powerful oligarchies, absence of rule of law, subservient judiciary, corruption amongst rulers and rich class, general decline in the moral values, the attitude of "I scratch your back and you scratch mine", cultural norms, bureaucratic secrecy, inadequate institutional linkages, slow and tardy judicial trails, interrupted growth of democratic system, institutionalisation of corruption by extending lucrative perks in favour of serving and retiring government officials in the form of plots, constructed houses and agricultural lands, quality of officers, technological obsolescence and inappropriate surveillance, defects in laws concerning accountability, perpetuity of landlords families in politics, emergence of urban elites in politics, low literacy percentage, ignorance and sifarish etc. Prevailing wide spread corruption has created injustice, frustration, anger and wide disparity between the rich and the poor. The fact of the matter is that laws and punishments are for the poor and helpless and rich are plundering the wealth of the country with both hands. On the basis of 37 years experience having worked in the bureaucracy, dealing with politicians and general public, it can be said that the present framework of political, legal, administrative and fiscal accountability is limited and defective. On the political side reasons advanced by the politicians that Public Account Committees (PACs) and general elections are the appropriate tools for the elimination of inefficient and corrupt politicians are not tenable. Normally, the politicians don't take action against their fellow politicians, and in general elections a majority of landlords and capitalists win the elections through the power of their baradries, and wealth. Thus the new law being framed by the government must include the politicians, judiciary and the army. Regarding the legal side we must have an independent and impartial judiciary from the level of a civil judge up to the Supreme Court otherwise all executive and legislative measures are bound to fail. It is our biggest tragedy that an unprecedented movement of lawyers, civil society and some political parties are being side tracked by way of re-appointments of a majority of deposed judges. In this way some honourable judges did get the jobs but on the whole the judiciary as an institution has yet to achieve its strength and independence, which of course, is not to the liking of the present government. Regarding administrative accountability, the government created the office of wafaqi mohtasib in 1983 but its overwhelming resort has been on individual complaints. Hardly any reference on 'mega corruptions and scandals' was made to the muhtasibs by the government or the courts. This can emerge as a strong link in accountability provided it is restructured defining its focus on major corruption cases instead of ordinary complaints. The Provincial Anti-corruption Directorates, prime minister's/chief ministers inspection teams, internal and external audit reports of the auditor general can be effectively implemented if the 'political will' is there. Compared to all the previous performances of different departments, NAB is on the top and had Pervez Musharraf not used it for political purposes, it could continue as an effective institution against corruption and some of its draconian clauses of the Ordinance could be eliminated. In the financial management sphere, government budgets are considered as instruments of control but unfortunately the debaters usually concentrate on the 'glorious deeds' and ignoble misdeeds of the government finally passing the budgets with questionable objectivity. This needs rectification at the political levels. The story of administrative accountability of the government departments through Public Accounts Committees makes a dismal reading as the time lag between receipts of reports and PACS reviews is very long. There are thousands of queries and observations by the AG which have not been responded for years. In such a context to talk about the value for money or performance/evaluation audit, economy and effectiveness is unrealistic. A lot of economic transactions take place in commercial, banking and industrial sectors which cannot be detected through conventional audit process. Examples include credit irregularities, bad debts, cooperative fiasco and trade related crimes which have already done irreparable damage to our economy. Therefore, the entire system of PAC's/AG Audit System should be reviewed to ensure adequate and timely opportunities of accountability. The officers/officials of AG must include chartered and cost accountants, lawyers, engineers, computer experts to help him carrying out audit of increasingly complex commercial, technical and industrial activities of the government and autonomous bodies. The merit and composition of loan portfolios of all the banks should be properly reviewed by the State Bank of Pakistan. Separate mohtasib offices at districts and divisional headquarters should be established for the accountability of local councils/development authorities as the present pre-audit system has failed to detect massive frauds and major misappropriations which have tremendously increased during the prevailing local government system. The electronic and print media is doing a highly commendable job in identifying the failures of the government, and exhibiting the sufferings of the poor. Mother Teresa had said, "God had not created poverty; it is we who have created it. Before God all of us are poor." Under the present circumstances the media appears to be our last hope to fight against injustice and corruption. But, they should lay more emphasis on investigative journalism to highlight the corrupt activities of all, instead of keeping their main focus on political news and debates. It is generally said that politics is the national sport of our nation. Pakistan at present is passing through a highly dangerous period of its existence: economy is in its worst state, army is fighting an endless war in FATA sponsored by internal and external enemies, some think tanks in USA are issuing modified maps of curtailed Pakistan, nearly 45 percent of our population is living below poverty line, the gap between rich and poor is widening, unemployment and price hike is badly affecting everybody, scenes of violent moods are daily appearing on the TV channels, top politicians are not bringing their wealth to Pakistan, India has stopped Chenab Water creating havoc in the southern districts of Punjab, the image of our president has been badly tarnished due to his exoneration under NRO - a very unique and unprecedented piece of legislation in the history of the world, judiciary has been tamed, rule of law and writ of the state is in a deplorable position. Due to lack of accountability in all spheres of life, we are drowning rapidly. Therefore, composite, well-integrated and coordinated firm actions are required to ensure transparent and fair accountability of all. If we do not rise and unite individually and collectively to save our motherland by sacrificing our self-interests, we will be doomed. We are a dynamic nation and most certainly we can solve our problems with courage, zeal and determination. The writer is a former member of Punjab Public Service Commission and DG LDA E-mail: ausaleem@hotmail.com