KARACHI: Accountability process selective: media experts
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 6: The government is the biggest source of corruption in the country and it can only be eliminated if discretionary powers are done away with, subjective laws removed from the statutory books, the Access to Information Act enforced and all institutions, including the army and the judiciary, treated on an equal footing in matters of accountability.
This view emerged at an inter-active workshop on the “Role of the media in combating corruption.” The workshop was organized by Defence Journal on Saturday in a local hotel. Majid Nizami was the chief guest.
There were three sessions presided over by former Balochistan governor Lt- Gen Sardar F.S. Lodi, Chief Executive of Herald Publications Hameed Haroon, and former Sindh governor Kamaluddin Azfar, respectively. Each session was followed by questions and answers from the participants.
The Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez, gave his remarks on the workshops’ proceedings. Ikram Sehgal summed up the proceedings. Earlier, in his brief address of welcome, Mr Sehgal highlighted the objectives of the workshop and the mode of its proceedings. A recorded message of veteran journalist Zamir Niazi was also played on tape recorder.
Recalling the role of the press in the struggle for Pakistan and its reconstruction, Majid Nizami said the press which was supposed to combat corruption itself had landed in the dock.
He said Pakistan was created for the people, but it had been taken over by the army as though it were created for the army. Since Ayub Khan’s martial law in 1958 a game of musical chairs was being played. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir and Nawaz Sharif were brought to power for brief periods, but power mostly remained in the hands of the army since the creation of the country.
He said politicians and generals were equally indulging in corruption. There was a need to see that when a general became ruler what assets he had when he came to power, and what were his assets when he stepped down.
Mr Nizami said, undoubtedly, there were corrupt elements in the media as they accepted bribes in the form of “envelopes, brief cases and plots.” Also, there were mediapersons on the pay list of secret agencies, and even investigative reporting was based on reports provided by agencies.
“As far as journalists are concerned, we don’t say we all are Mr cleans. But it should also be looked into to what extent the khaki bureaucracy and other bureaucracy harmed the country,” he stressed.
He claimed that a COAS was given away a bungalow when he retired. How much lands in Sindh were allotted to those in khaki uniforms, he asked. An air marshal, who live in Abbottabad, owned land in Sindh. How long this sordid affair would go on, he asked and warned that “we are heading for a bloody revolution.”
“We conceded to the US demand to save Afghanistan and helped create Tora Bora there. Now by succumbing to the US pressure, God forbid, we might face a Tora Bora of our own,” he said.
Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez said the government had been working to formulate a national anti-corruption strategy, and this workshop would help considerably in identifying the mistakes.
Recalling the role of the press in building public opinion by virtue of its having access to every section of society, he said always there is room for improvement. We must strive to improve in our own fields.
He said the government was considering various issues, including freedom of the press and revival of the Access to Information Act.
“We are not supposed to hound people. We are part of Pakistan which is as dear to us as to any one of you,” he emphasized.
He said his experience revealed that Pakistan is not the worst in terms of corruption, though we do discuss the constant degeneration and deterioration in society.
He said till date NB has investigated some 500 cases. He, however, acknowledged that NAB, in the initial stages, might have committed errors in dealing with individuals.
He rejected the impression that measures adopted by NAB affected the national economy, particularly shattering the confidence of local investors.
Seeking only three solid reasons and examples for complaints made against NAB, he said it had never been found to have wrongly apprehended the accused.
According to him, anti-corruption and accountability are not time-barred exercises as it takes time to ascertain facts and to find irrefutable evidence.
Replying to questions, Gen Hafiz dispelled the impression that “Plea Bargain” might be generally preferred as it offered certain benefit to NAB. He said “Plea Bargain” was materialized at the request of accused after facts were collected.
Hameed Haroon, who presided over the second session, said we talk about politicians and bureaucrats making money. But we do not talk about the army and the judiciary. “It is important that we should talk about this area as well,” he said, adding that there is a need to formulate laws on the electronic and the print media.
A free press and an independent judiciary were pillars of democracy, he said, adding that the press represented and reflected public opinion. It was here that the press needed to distinguish between good and bad intentions.
Mr Hameed criticized the press laws governing salaries of newspaper employees and automatic promotions. He said the APNS was willing to accept the seventh wage board award provided it covered only the journalists, not the non-journalist workers. He said out of 996 new newspapers registered with the Press Information Department, only four major publications were expected to implement the wage award.
Sajjad Mir attributed the prevalence of “envelop journalism” to newspapers and magazines where salaries of journalists were hardly Rs2,000-3,000 a month.
Kamal Azfar, who presided over the third session, paid a tribute to the press which proved more courageous and bold than the Indian press and was equal to the European and Western media in many respects.
He said there was need to ask ourselves the question why in the presence of such a strong media and NAB, we are unable to curb corruption.
He traced history since independence when important leaders of the Pakistan Movement Husain Shaheed Suhrawardi, Nawab Iftikhar Husain Mamdot and Ayub Khuhro were disqualified on political grounds. He said there was a need to make distinction between error of judgment and corruption.
Recalling the recent examples of accountability in the US, he referred to the cases involving Clinton and Nixon, he said true accountability could be possible only if those in power were made accountable and not after their removal from the seat of power.
He also called for an independent and strong judiciary for which he pleaded for well-paid judges with security of tenure and raising the retirement age to 70 years and who should not be subjected to retire under PCO for difference of opinion.
Karachi Press Club President Sabihuddin Ghausi called for a broad based ownership of newspapers and laws to appoint professional editors to eliminate element of corruption from the print media.
He claimed that the print media was not combating corruption, but it was a beneficiary of corruption.
Akram Saigol, the editor of Defence Journal, announced a Rs25,000 award for investigative pieces by local journalists which might further be pursued by NAB.
