Meagre walks against corruption

Corruption is virtually our arch enemy obstructing everything on the path to a decent living and it is a positive sign that the city government has joined in the campaign against it.

However, the other side of coin shows that matters have worsened to such an extent that no more are the anti-corruption steps working. Even the National Accountability Bureau has been quoted as saying that to fight against corruption in any meaningful manner it is necessary that people join in.

Therefore, it was good to see city government banners motivating people to stand up against corruption. A thought that crossed the mind once again was “What should a citizen do when he is frustrated by the public dealing staff of various departments in private and public sectors?” Continue to suffer, use influence or bribe his way out. It could be happening in any segment of our lives.

It is also imperative to keep in mind that the battle against corruption is global (yet another form of globalisation of the economy?) and the outspoken Transparency International has been focusing on this country for many years now – zeroing into details that reflect poorly on the society. Our rating as being amongst the most corrupt countries has been a repeated reason for being embarrassed. But that has somehow not produced results good enough to have filtered down to the life of the common man. He remains cynical of what has been attempted to fight corruption in public dealing departments.

Of course corruption is always in the news in this society. It is either there for the wanton manner in which it destroys people and institutions, or it is underlined for the measures that are undertaken to combat it. The ways of the corrupt are well known, easily identifiable, in this land seeking to be purer still.

On the International Anti-Corruption Day, NAB Chairman Lieutenant General (retd) Shahid Aziz addressing a conference said Pakistan had been fighting a battle to wipe out corruption for the last seven years. It was on December 9 that the UN Convention against Corruption was introduced. The NAB chairman said December 9 was a reminder of the presence of a silent killer in our economy. He warned of the dire need to identify tangible stepping stones to reach our destiny, otherwise anti-corruption would remain only a slogan.

He said the NAB would issue a ‘performance calendar’ on December 9 every year so that common man could evaluate what had been done to curb corruption.

One Karachiite wondered whether this year’s performance calendar had been issued and where was it available. He asked why newspapers were not serializing it. It would make good reading, he said and added, “We want to know who have been identified as corrupt.”

Possibly for the first time, this year there were anti-corruption walks held in the provincial capitals by the NAB. In Karachi, the walk was held in front of the Sea View apartments. Among those who participated were Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, Sindh NAB chief Major General Mukhtar Ahmed, and the Director General of Sindh Rangers. The governor who also spoke on the occasion called upon people to realize that no government could tackle the problem of corruption alone.

It is a welcome sign that Pakistani society has reached a stage where public awareness is being sought, as indeed is their support to combat the monster of corruption. An annual walk is too mild and meagre a measure for the stinking rot in our offices -- where private and public sector bureaucracy suffocate and throttle. And if they can’t do it with outright dishonesty, they do so with cleverly concealed inefficiency.