Ten years ago, towards the end of September 1993, prior to the ending of the prime ministerial caretakership of Moeen Qureshi (recognized now as one of the few highpoints in our political history), I wrote in praise of his achievements.
The fact that he had done no harm during his three-month tenure, I expressed the wish echoed by many of my fellow citizens that rather than have the scheduled elections with the already known result - the dreaded return of Benazir Bhutto and her spouse - the country would be better served were Moeen's term to be extended.
During the week that followed, to my astonishment (how naive can one be?), it was reported that, at the last minute, Moeen had indeed acted in a manner damaging to the country. He had used the discretion allowed to him, the burden of which, being an educated man, he well knew, and rather than ridding the people of six untrustworthy men he had, against the advice of his own chosen ministers who knew better than he the calibre and corruptibility of the six, appointed them to high positions which would (and did) allow them, with impunity, to rob the exchequer and to use oppressive measures against the helpless people. Moeen later admitted that he had done so at the request and with the concurrence of Benazir, though at the cost to the nation.
So, in my next column Moeen was reminded of the Punjab and Sindh experiences in which discretionary powers had been misused and abused to the hilt by appointed and elected chief ministers who had plundered with the greatest of indiscretion. (The names of the plunderers, givers and the takers, were listed in the October 1, 1993, special issue of Dawn's EBR, a document of record.)
Between 1985 and 1993 Punjab had three chief ministers, all of the PML - Nawaz Sharif appointed in 1985 who relinquished the chief ministership to become the elected prime minister in 1990. Then Ghulam Haider Wyne (1990-April 1993) who was assassinated that September 29, and Manzoor Ahmad Watoo, who, for 82 days from April onwards, ruled the province. All three were guilty of the abuse and misuse of the powers granted to them and all were worthy of prosecution under the laws of the land.
Nawaz used his discretionary powers to disburse at will from funds such as Jahez and Baitul Maal a sum of almost nine crore rupees handed out to undeserving, greedy, corrupt cronies and supporters.Wyne outdid him and handed out Rs.10 crores from his discretionary funds. Rs.7.5 crores was distributed to persons of his and Nawaz's choice, five crore rupees to selected MNAs and MPAs, Rs.30 lakhs was given to his own institute in Mian Channu, the Markaz Anjuman Islamia, six lakh rupees went to the staff of the chief minister's house, five lakh rupees was gifted to the 'poor' who gathered at Governor's House on one of Nawaz's visits to Lahore, and one lakh rupees was given as 'Edi' to the staff of Governor's House.
In his short spell, Watoo managed to dole out three crore rupees to political associates, one crore rupees to a chosen few, Rs.13.5 lakhs as 'inamat' to his staff, Rs.10 lakhs as 'Eidi' at Okara and Dipalpur, and another Rs.10 lakhs to the 'poor'. Rs.39 lakhs he dedicated to 'entertainment and gifts,' and on hotel expenses for himself and his friends he spent Rs.3.5 lakhs. His own personal entertainment cost the Punjab exchequer Rs.50,000 per day.
Such were the then known expenses, but over and above that, the discretionary allotment of plots from the Lahore Development Authority land had cost some Rs.200 crores. Were there to be any system of detailed and correct accounting, the sums spent by the three men would have been truly astronomical.
Sindh, during the same period, had suffered five political chief ministers: Ghous Ali Shah of the PML (1985-1988), Qaim Ali Shah of the PPP (1988-1990), Aftab Shahban Mirani of the PPP (six months in 1990), Jam Sadiq Ali, transferred from the PPP to the PML (1990-1992), and Muzaffar Hussain Shah who took over when Jam died. The province was fortunate in its one caretaker chief minister, the upright Akhtar Ali Kazi, for six months in 1988.
A fraction of the discretionary robbing recorded in Sindh involved plots of land. Had the total robbing under different heads been taken into account, it may well have exceeded that of Punjab.
Ghous Ali Shah, under his discretionary powers, allotted 1,234 plots for a total value at the then current market rate of Rs.220 crores. 'Commuter' Qaim and Mirani between them allotted 530 plots at a cost to the province of Rs.52.5 crores and of these 286 were allotted by Asif Ali Zardari via his appointee minister in charge of plot affairs, Agha Siraj Durrani. Jam Sahib managed the allotment of 402 plots worth Rs.41.5 crores. And by the end of September 1993 Muzaffar (now speaker of the Sindh assembly and on-and-off acting governor) had distributed 117 plots worth Rs.17 crores. The sum total was 2,283 plots of Karachi Development Authority land worth Rs.331 crores. Not bad going. But what was never known is how much land belonging to Sindh's Board of Revenue was given away by these men during the eight years covered by their tenures.
Moeen Qureshi, as with his predecessors and successors in office, preached democracy. What he and the others did and do not preach or take into account is the fact that there can be no democracy unless there is on-going concurrent accountability.
Recommended to Moeen was that he procure and consult PLD 1991 SC 14 and read therein what had been spelt out by that most conscientious and dutiful of judges, Justice Shafiur Rahman, in his effort to curb those to whom discretionary powers are granted:
"A public official who undertakes to perform an act, even an act which is completely discretionary, must do so reasonably and in complete good faith without such delay as would frustrate its ultimate objective. One who accepts a public office does so 'cum onere', or with the burdens and obligations with its benefits. He thereby subjects himself to all constitutional and legislative provisions relating thereto and undertakes to perform all the duties of the office, and while he remains in such office the public has the right to demand that he performs such duties. The acceptance of every public office implies an agreement on the part of the officer that he will execute his duties with diligence and fidelity.
"The duty of a public officer to fulfil the obligations of his office should take precedence over all other matters. Every public officer is bound to use reasonable skill and diligence in the performance of his official duties, particularly where rights of individuals may be jeopardized by his neglect. In other words, he is bound, virtue 'officio', to bring to the discharge of his duties that prudence, caution, and attention which careful men usually exercise in the management of their own affairs."
Every man or woman appointed to positions of power and every servant of the public should be made to carefully read (if not learn by heart) this passage from the judgment rendered over a decade ago in the case of 'Chairman, Regional Transport Authority, Rawalpindi versus Pakistan Mutual Assurance Company Limited, Rawalpindi'.
The majority of those listed in the EBR are men attuned to taking oaths by which they have no intention of abiding, bending with the wind, looting without batting an eyelid, and bereft of remorse. It was not understandable in 1993 why a man such as Moeen Qureshi allowed himself to be persuaded into appointing, for instance, M.B. Abbasi who scraped the bottoms of both the NDFC and the NBP at the bidding of Asif and later absconded to the golf courses of the US.
It is now not understandable why Lt General Tauqir Zia who heads the Pakistan Cricket Board has so carelessly given away 17 acres of the Karachi cricket stadium land, worth Rs. 13 crores, to be used to create yet another of the ostentatious housing colonies for our retired army generals which are spread over the major cities of the land. General Tauqir Zia may be forgiven for the Pakistan cricket team having been booted out of the World Cup in the preliminary rounds (a first in our cricketing history), but he will not be forgiven for handing out, in such a cavalier fashion, land dedicated to the sport he is supposed to protect and foster.
In the hope that the message will get through to him, reproduced in an excerpt from a letter written to The Times (London) in February 1987: "Those who fear that fields will lose to bricks and those who might hope to gain from such an exchange would do well to remember the age-old anecdote about an open space in London. 'Were I to enclose Green Park within my garden, what would be the cost?' asked Queen Anne. 'A monarchy, Madam. A monarchy,' replied her prime minister, Robert Walpole."
This little anecdote has been trotted out on many a previous occasion. Each time, it has fallen upon ignorant, deaf, and deafer ears.