- A pernicious conglomerate of insatiable greed and plunder
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time, they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
Frédéric Bastiat
A mafia is explained as “a close group of people who are involved in similar activities and who help and protect each other, sometimes to the disadvantage of others”. A fair description, but what is not mentioned here is the nature of their activities and the identity of those people or entities who stand to suffer as a consequence of their actions. In a few words, the sufferers are always the innocent ones, including the state and its institutions that the mafias manipulate to drive their agendas.
The story of these mafias in Pakistan has been indescribably pernicious where they have thwarted the very prospect of development and growth. So deep has been their hold through periods, both democratic and dictatorial, that no one dared take them on. This is not the story of one or the other mafia, but of all of them together. They have been the parasites nibbling away at the very fabric of the state, denuding it of its writ and legitimacy. In the process, they have also taken away the right of the people of this country to move along the path of mainstreaming them in the development paradigm with access to basic needs of life and a promise of better times.
By making the report public, the Prime Minister has virtually eliminated the prospect of not going after these mafias. He is on a moral high. In time, what he may be able to achieve on this front would distinguish him from his crime-infested predecessors– the ones who have been responsible for the mess that he inherited a little over one-and-a-half year ago.
The phenomenal sprouting of the mafias has been a sordid chapter in the country’s history, typified by the profit-sharing liaisons they have struck with every ruling clique in the country. They have not just indulged the spree to the detriment of other people. They have also manoeuvred, in league with the political charlatans, the wishy-washy parliamentarians, the bureaucratic whiz kids and their sundry partners in crime, to have legislation adopted to legitimise their loot. Take the case of the FIA report recently made public on the orders of the Prime Minister that uncovers the long hands of the sugar and the flour mafias and how they minted billions, understandably by ‘legitimising’ their plunder under some policies which they had earlier facilitated for adoption. Even when the federal government had disallowed granting subsidies to the exporters of sugar, the mafias were able to pressurize the entire Punjab cabinet to endorse their plea for granting them the lucrative dole-outs. There was only one voice raised against the move, but it was buried under the din of the ayes.
There would hardly be a second opinion that, if Pakistan is to progress and nurture compassion for its impoverished people, these mafias will have to be eliminated. This is a massive operation which previous rulers never dared undertake, principally for fear of their government becoming a victim of the move. These mafias and their partners have penetrated the three pillars of the state, as also the media which pretends to be the fourth. So, dismantling them would require a thorough shake-up of these pillars and their affiliates.
The FIA report could be a good beginning. All those named for any wrongdoing, irrespective of whether they belong to the government or the opposition ranks, must be held accountable. If they are found to be wrongfully in receipt of subsidies, they should be asked to return the monies to the state. Simultaneously, the policies ‘legitimising’ such loot should be immediately annulled.
The agents of the mafia who have threatened the Prime Minister and other government functionaries should be appropriately proceeded against and their names widely publicised to make people aware of who their real enemies are. Caution should also be exercised to pluck the deep roots these mafias have within the government which they would manipulate remorselessly to save their skins.
But, far more importantly, the government must look into ways and means to ensure that such irregularities are not committed in the future. That would require a deep understanding of the way this system has been structured. No one person can be singled out for the entire malaise that afflicts the country today. There has been a colourful maze of leaders who have indulged in criminal undertakings to perpetuate their personal interests and their political fiefdoms, be they Bhutto/Zardaris, Sharifs, Chaudhrys and such others of this clan. The national interest had no place in their thinking. So, over 72 years, we have ended up with a vast network of multilayered mafias solely wedded to advancing their interests by holding the state and its institutions captive in their vice-like grip. They pay a price for everything they need to have on their side. In the process, every pillar of the state is compromised.
It is not an easy task. There are going to be pitfalls. There will be attempts to tarnish the Prime Minister’s image by wrongly implicating him in the doings of some people who may be part of the government or the party. There will be an attempt to further weaken his government by weaning people away, at the centre and in Punjab, where he has coalition partners who have been part of similar gruesome doings in the past. When they will see their personal interests jeopardised, they may jump the boat with no scarcity of takers of whom there would be a long line just to see the back of the Prime Minister.
Those impacted within the ruling party may also pose a threat. Owing to their association with previous governments, they have been accustomed to different agendas. It would not be in their interest to let all of that change. They could react by trying to destabilise the government. In doing this, they will have the unstinted support of leaders who are under investigation for multiple crimes ranging from corruption to fake accounts to money laundering.
The weak and the much compromised judicial system could be another huge factor in the ultimate success or otherwise of the move. In a country where a sitting Prime Minister helped an alleged criminal escape in his official plane, where the Lahore High Court facilitated a convict to leave the country on the basis of a mere written undertaking, where institutions of the state have been blatantly complicit in the perpetration of a myriad crimes without even a thought of being held accountable, where a bottle of liquor is magically transformed into one of honey, courts are capable of doing just about everything without a question asked.
And let’s not forget the charlatans sitting in Parliament, the bulk of whom can’t even read what they sign on. Those without a high level of conviction are the easiest to be dissuaded.
So, while the dice may appear heavily loaded against undertaking such a challenge, yet it must be pursued without a shade of weakness. Mafias and the country can no longer co-exist. Their continuation would be to the utter detriment of the state.
By making the report public, the Prime Minister has virtually eliminated the prospect of not going after these mafias. He is on a moral high. In time, what he may be able to achieve on this front would distinguish him from his crime-infested predecessors– the ones who have been responsible for the mess that he inherited a little over one-and-a-half year ago.
