Corruption is in full swing in every sphere of life. But in Pakistan trend of corruption is very dismal. It’s like a snowball, once its start to roll its size continues to increase. In international community corruption is perceived as the use of illegal way to do illegal thing but in Pakistan scenario is somewhat different you must pay for your legal affairs both in public and private organizations. Corrupt mindset is dominant both at upper level and lower level. People which hold coveted positions do corruption for greed while people at sub ordinate level do corruption for need. Both forms are injurious to national health.
Corruption culture does not only setback our economy but also tarnished our global image. International community assumes that it can fulfill its interest in Pakistan just by offering corruption.
Although we have established NAB to curb the menace of corruption. But, it seems that, it has duality in its policies regarding corrupt government officials and civilians. For one entity, it enforces its laws in full form while for other entity it provides perks and privileges. such trend is very common in political atmosphere of our country. Moreover, some public institutions are away from its jurisdiction. Most important in them are judiciary and armed forces am not saying that Pakistan army and judiciary are corrupt but you cannot deny the fact that rotten eggs are present everywhere. Such corrupt person not only destroy their own reputation but also put image of institution at stake. Although, military and judiciary have their own accountability system but in my opinion there should be unanimous accountability policies for all national institution.
But there is no political consensus in our country to enforce unanimous accountability policies for all institution. In Pakistan consensus among political parties is only developed when they must entertain their own interest. When matter of pay increment and providing perks and privileges come all the political parties including opposition and sitting government are found on same page. But the matters of national interest become prey of war of tug between opposition and sitting government.
There is need of hour to avoid selective accountability because current situation of corruption in our country demands across the board accountability.
KHURAM RASHEED,
Faisalabad, November 4.