Through the package, the accountability process and transparency would be ensured through access to information at federal, provincial and local government level, they decided.
The commitment, titled “our pledge to the people of Pakistan,” was made during a convention of political leaders organized by the Pakistan chapter of Transparency International at the Convention Centre.
Those who signed the pledge are: Millat Party chief Sardar Farooq Leghari, Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) President Mian Azhar, PML leader Sartaj Aziz, Abdus Sattar of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Imtiaz Sheikh of Sindh Democratic Alliance, Ashraf Malik of Jamaat-i-Islami and Iqbal Khattak of Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao). Ajmal Khattak left early but signed the pledge.
Jeremy Carver, the representative of the Transparency International, told the audience that out of 12 political parties invited, 10 had agreed to attend. The PPP, Pakistan Awami Tehrik and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf were absent.
Mr Carver read out the pledge in which the political leaders acknowledged the damage caused by corruption and the urgency of the need for countering it. The said they recognised that continuing international support for the country was largely dependent on the prompt and effective national anti-corruption strategy.
The pledge stated that those who were elected and formed the opposition after the election would play a full part in holding the government accountable and to cooperate in non-partisan ways with the adoption and implementation of effective anti-corruption strategies.
The pledge said that when the new government was sworn in after the elections, the politicians would work together to evolve an effective system of accountability, including an independent and effective judicial system, to eliminate corruption.
They pledged to serve the people with integrity and said corruption crisis must be tackled openly by all. They also invited the citizens to unite with them in their determination to rid the country of corruption.
Speaking on the occasion, National Accountability Bureau Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez said corruption had created the largest hole in the fabric of democracy. “While all of us acknowledge that not all politicians are corrupt, there is a general feeling that, lately, the politicians with conviction and a desire to serve the nation had gone into the background while it had come to be dominated by mercenaries who entered for a profit,” he observed.
The small set of political leaders had been responsible for giving politics and democracy a bad name and destabilizing the country, he said and added that corrupt elements existed in all sectors all over the world and the it was true in Pakistan as well. However, in politics and democracy the worst came out when those at the top indulged in corruption and the honest were sidelined, he said.
He said years of plunder had left the economy in a shambles, burdening it with unsustainable debt and extremely poor social indicators.
He said the first victim of corruption was justice because the weak failed to get their rights and the powerful usurped them. “Such a social system was not sustainable and eventually there was a breakdown of law and order, resulting in chaos,” he said.
He said the public had lost faith in the governance system and the democratic process.
Farooq Leghari called upon the West, United States President Bush, United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Transparency International to include corruption in their war against terrorism.
He said corruption could be eradicated to a considerable level if the corrupt elements could not get safe havens through transfer of plundered wealth to offshore companies. He said that about $50 billion had escaped Pakistan in the past years - an amount more than enough to wipe out the external debt.
A way to tackle corruption, he said, was to respect the supremacy of law, honour the Constitution and devise a system where the judiciary was also made accountable.
He said that despite claims of economic development, poverty was expanding.
Mian Azhar said the common man took the state as a supporter of the corrupt. The state must convince the citizens that it was not tolerant of corruption, he said.
Sartaj Aziz emphasized the need for judicial independence and an independent investigating machinery to probe corruption charges. He said that the manifesto of the PML, to be announced two days later, talked in detail about corruption.
Abdus Sattar said corruption could be plugged if the sizes of cabinets were restricted and the president, prime minister and the chief ministers were allocated minimal funds, subject to scrutiny of Public Accounts Committee. He said the parliament needed to be made dynamic, the powers of NAB should be transferred to the Ombudsman and discretionary powers should be looked into.