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In the name of democracy

The interpretation of democracy is that when accountability is demanded simply dismiss it by making it legally impossible and politically improbable

When the prime minister is unwell, democracy is in danger of being derailed. Curing an illness has many remedies. In the middle of a grave personal and political crisis that has apparently impacted the prime minister’s health to the extent that he had to go overseas to get treatment, reportedly, retail therapy overtook allopathic therapy. Bentley, Savile Row and Rolex, it seems, are more effective cures for the ‘maladies’ the prime minister is ‘suffering’ from than injectable antibiotics. One could say that if he was in London and had time to kill a little bit of shopping is permissible. One could also say that shopping at a few branded stores is part and parcel in a family outing. And one could also say that all said and done the prime minister is but human. Having said that, the prime minister is also a leader; the prime minister is also under the scandal of having millions of pounds stowed away in London, the very place he was found shopping at billion-dollar brands; and the fact that the prime minister’s communiqué before leaving Pakistan had painted a health picture that did not match a robust selfie-posing touristic shopper at
the Bond Street.

These pictures may be just a minor reflection of what our leaders do with their time and our money, but it is a major reflection of why they fail to govern the country as per their commitments and manifesto. On most development fronts the country has been in a downslide. Economic, institutional and human development have all taken a beating in the last decade. Pakistan stands out as the least developed country in South Asia barring Afghanistan. Even if we consider India and China as exceptional cases, most other neighbours who were way behind Pakistan have overtaken our country on most indexes of development. The most embarrassing example for us has been that of Bangladesh. While Bangladesh was part of Pakistan it was growing at a rate of three percent, and in 2015, its growth rate has doubled to 6.5 percent. Pakistan, on the other hand, was growing at a rate of six percent in 2006, and has now come down to 4.2 percent according to the official figures, but some analysts say that figures given to the IMF place it at 3.3 percent. This is not just an economic comparison but also a comparison of governance, focus, priorities, performance and most of all of leadership.

The economic development model adopted by our finance managers led by Ishaq Dar is based on borrowing, which is a proven model of economic failure in the world. The established mantra is that it is never aid but trade that builds economies. Exports have made economies like China and India the emerging superpowers that they are today. On the other hand, we have faced declining exports in the last four years, as exports barely touched $24 billion in 2014-15. Bangladesh has surpassed us with exports of $34 billion and without being a cotton-economy has become the 11th major exporter of textiles in the world. Textile industry that was supposed to be the backbone of our economy is suffering from spinal dislocation.

Perhaps the biggest casualty of this abysmal governance is state institutions and public enterprises. From the PIA to Pakistan Steel Mills to PTV, all are in a state of disarray. They are either bankrupt or dysfunctional. On the other hand, institutions like the police, National Accountability Bureau, Election Commission of Pakistan and PEMRA have become national embarrassments. The reason is simple. They are treated as lavish dole outs for loyalists. This dole out is now considered normal. Rules of recruitment are bent; perks are amassed; performance is dismissed and subsidies are given to fill the pockets of greedy appointees, who knowing that their term may be limited, treat the position as loot sale. The annual cost to the taxpayer to keep these institutions running is Rs. 500 billion, more than the entire public sector development budget. Thus the tone set at the top by these professionally unfit people pervades right down the ranks to the point that these institutions are reduced to junk that nobody will buy except a few ‘friends’, who end up making billions out of the deals.

The third component of this style of leadership is to suppress human development. An aware, educated and healthy human mind is dangerous. Thus Pakistan, in the entire South Asia, spends the lowest on education, health, infant and maternal mortality. Pakistan is ranked 147 of 180 countries in the world on the Human Development Index, lower than China, India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Bangladesh has moved to the 142nd position, having reduced poverty by 10 percent last year, while poverty in Pakistan has increased by three percent, according to this index. Thus the formula is foolproof. Keep them uneducated, poor and unhealthy to the extent that they neither have the sense nor the time to question and break this vicious cycle of suppression. The recent banning of the movie Maalik is a clear example of how afraid the government is of making people aware of these injustices and how dictatorial is their behaviour under the guise of democracy.

Events that would cause uproar in parliaments, unrest in media and upheaval in the public go almost unnoticed in this country. Any other prime minister wearing a 4.6 million dollars Louis Monet watch, while 60 percent of Pakistanis cannot get a decent meal a day would be considered a hugely vulgar display of wealth. The daily expense allocated for prime minister’s secretariat and house is Rs. 2.306 million, which would be considered horrific in any developing country. The cost of protecting the prime minister’s family is Rs. 365.28 million per annum, which merely covers the expense of policing the family. Such extravagances would make Americans and British gather outside the White House and 10 Downing Street with placards, but when it comes to questioning the inhabitants of the ‘Raiwind Palace’, and daring to go anywhere near the ‘no-go’ areas of the Sharif family, it gives the yes-prime-minister ministers a chance to say how ‘indecent’ is this line of questioning.

Thus the interpretation of democracy is that an elected prime minister, no matter which electoral system he has come from, has to be preserved for five years, no matter what corruption and destruction of the institutions he commits. The interpretation of democracy is that national or provincial assembly is the best forum to delay, dodge and bulldoze bills of non-favour and bills for favour. The interpretation of democracy is that when accountability is demanded simply dismiss it by making it legally impossible and politically improbable. The interpretation of democracy is that make such an uproar about the ‘derailing of the system’ that your loyalists in the parliament and your appointed heads of key state institutions join you in this chorus of ‘save democracy’ until you acquire the status of a ‘holier-than-law’ leader. It is this very smearing of the spirit of democracy that needs to be cleared in the minds of the masses for them to make the leadership of this country truly accountable to the people of Pakistan.

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‘CHHOTU LEAKS’

The western border groups were facilitated by foreign hands and agencies, and south Punjab groups were facilitated by vote-seeking governments

While the whole world is engrossed in the Panama leaks, in Pakistan the ‘Chhotu leaks’ are finally spilling over the no-go domain. For decades terrorism in Pakistan is associated, mainly, with Waziristan and other tribal areas. While every area of the north has been dissected and debated to hunt down terrorists, terrorism originating from south Punjab has been a hush-hush topic. It has never truly caught political, media and international attention the way cross-border terrorism has. Thus the welcome breakthrough is that finally we are debating, writing and doing something about what is perhaps equally if not more dangerous in its depth and scale than many other terror hubs. While FATA has been a story of insurgency and terrorism, tales from south Punjab are much more horrific. When you know, accept and target a certain area for combat action, some progress will follow. The danger lies with the unknown evil that is protected to the extent that it becomes a Frankenstein’s monster for its own protectors. As per reports, the Chhotu gang is just the tip of the iceberg, as the real gangs entrenched in the south are far more lethal than terrorists in the north.

The stereotypical image of a terrorist is of a tall, bony, long-haired, Kalashnikov-toting man, appearing from and disappearing in mountains. The southern Punjab terrorist is disguised as a religious zealot, with a heavy beard and heavier belly, blending in as a local politician. We all lament the state of economy in FATA, but South Punjab is worse. The extent of poverty in south Punjab beats all provinces put together. Many villages in south Punjab make border areas look more civilised. The government writ is non-existent, and if you think Mullah Fazalullah taking over Swat was the ultimate lawlessness, there are some areas in Rajanpur that are completely out of the bounds of law. With some of the most notorious militant groups — Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Jundullah, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Sunni Tehreek, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Sipah-e-Muhammad, Tehreek-e-Jafaria, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) etc. — residing and operating from this part of Punjab, south Punjab could be labelled the ‘terrorist capital’ of Pakistan. Punjabi Taliban and the JeM with its headquarters in Bahawalpur are evidence of one of the real sources of unending terrorism in Pakistan going unchecked. Sargodha district is a famous recruitment centre that hires militants and then sends them to Waziristan for training.

The question is why then south Punjab operators have gone untargeted, while their counterparts in the west have been the focus of attention? The major reason is that these organisations have learned from political parties in Sindh. Political parties in Sindh have militant wings to carry out their nefarious activities, and terrorist organisations in Punjab have political wings to protect their militant offensives. These groups have made their own narrative to form a vote bank in the area. While in FATA and other areas the narrative was anti-American jihad, the narrative in south Punjab has been the sectarian jihad, which resulted in many massacres of Shia and other communities. Since both south Punjab and FATA have outdone each other on poverty and illiteracy, the ability of the self-made ‘religious’ narrative to pervade brains was relatively easy.

These groups co-existed with great collaboration between south Punjab and North Waziristan. The western border groups were, according to many reports, facilitated by foreign hands and agencies, and south Punjab groups were facilitated by vote-seeking governments. There have been many reports on the ‘close’ relationship of Punjab government with the heads of the Sipah-e-Sahaba and LeJ. The former interior minister, Rehman Malik, has been quoted as saying that Malik Ishaq was paid a stipend by the Punjab government while in jail. And who can forget the welcome Rana Sanaullah gave to Malik Ishaq when he was released. Seat adjustments and mutual cooperation deals have been reported many times in the media, but there has never been anybody to really question and prove this murderous alliance. The simple entry point from Punjab to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and vice versa is from Dera Ismail Khan into Dera Ghazi Khan, making to-and-fro movement of militants unimpeded.

This coexistence was all going fine until Mr Sharif had to face Mr Sharif. The Army Public School massacre created ultra shock waves, and brought all parties together on one page with a comprehensive National Action Plan to go to all lengths to remove terrorism from Pakistan. These plans have been made in the past too, and General Pervez Musharraf, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari have successfully dismissed them with ‘political acumen and sagacity’. Not so with Raheel Sharif. He has relentlessly pursued the activation of this plan despite huge resistance from the government.

Sindh operations have become a bone of contention between the MQM, PPP and the army firstly, and now between the PPP and PML-N. The PPP has been demanding a similar operation in Punjab for a long time, but the PML-N kept on denying the existence of terrorist nurseries in the area until the Lahore blast happened. The anger of the public, once again, forced Punjab government to retreat, but Punjab government still insisted that they have a trained CTD counter terrorism department that will trace, hunt, and finish terrorists. But then the Chhotu gang happened.

The Punjab government in competition with the Zarb-e-Azb operation of the army announced the Zarb-e-Ahan operation by the police and CTD. Despite the fact that in six previous operations, the Punjab police had failed to capture them, they went ahead to fight this gang. Unfortunately, many law enforcement personnel lost their lives, and 24 of them were captured by the gangsters they had gone after. Ghulam Rasool alias Chhotu’s story of being hand in glove with a local MNA, being booked on fake cases and remaining in police torture is a familiar tale of how our police has produced more hardened criminals than captured them. As in the past, when we have lost countless lives, an army operation becomes the last resort. The question is: why does the Punjab government incur huge losses of lives and image before seeking help from the Rangers or army? The answer may be that just as in Sindh where some captured target killers turned into whistle blowers there may be fear of the same happening in Punjab.

Who knows, as the Chhotu gang has surrendered to the army, the leakage will start. Capturing one gang may be not much of an achievement but the bigger achievement would be to have whistle-blowing, ‘Punjab leaks’ through them, identifying the people in government and state institutions of being facilitators of terrorism. That is why the time for a real National Action Plan to eradicate terrorism from Pakistan may be never more opportune than now.

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‘Panama Spring’

In countries where monarchies, closed governments and counterfeit democracies exist, scams on the rich and powerful fade into insignificance over a period of time

fter the Arab Spring came the ‘Panama Spring’. The Arab Spring came, shocked, whimpered and faded. The present Panama Spring is being termed as another seasonal wind that will ‘appear’ to be creating a storm but will turn into a lull before the summer takes on. The premise behind this cynicism is that both are targeted towards the rich and the powerful who may lose a few billions but will create new power fortresses to prevent any further disturbance. The excitement that was created with the Arab Spring and the romance that was conjured up by the oppressed against the mighty is not really present in this shake-up. However, as with every fairy tale, reality bites, and the Arab Spring sprung no major surprises; Panama Spring despite being the boring accountants, tedious, number-crunching leakage may yet create enough material for Hollywood to make many movies on this gigantic paper chase.

The Arab Spring was a revolt of the suppressed public against oppression, and Panama Spring is a revolt of the honest against corruption. Arab Spring started in Tunisia in 2010 when the self-immolation of a street vendor in a provincial town of Sidi Bouzid sparked mass anti-government protests. Unable to control the crowds, the then president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee the country in January 2011 after 23 years in power. Over the next few months, Ben Ali’s downfall inspired similar uprisings across the Middle East. The story of Arab Spring reached its height in Egypt when the Tahrir Square became a historical place to witness the power of the people in dislodging unwanted governments. While Hosni Mubarak succumbed to the pressure, the political structure was too weak to let the democratic government last, giving way to the army to run the country. Libya and Muammar Qaddafi went into a bloody war, despite Qaddafi’s death Libya remained a land in the grip of a civil war. Aside from these big falls, some other countries were also affected by the shake-up but that only resulted in partial public appeasement in the form of some benefits and reforms. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Qatar also faced sporadic protests but managed to control the population with carrot-and-stick options.

Panama Spring is similar yet different from the Arab Spring. It is similar in the fact that it is a revolt against the ruling elite; it is similar in the fact that public protests and pressure are the trigger points for many governments; and it is similar in the fact that the IT and social media revolution has played a big part in making it spread in many parts of the world. However, it is different in the sense that this is not a regional uprising located in the Middle East but touching nearly every part of the world. From Argentina to Iceland, from the UK to Russia, and from India to Pakistan, the tremors have been felt everywhere. Another difference is that unlike the Arab Spring that was basically a revolt against authoritarian governments suppressing the rights of citizens, this is a revolt against mostly democratic governments not taking into confidence their citizens on private business matters. The Panama leaks are not merely limited to governments but also include businessmen, bureaucrats, judges, media-persons, sportspersons, actors and many other individuals.

The Arab Spring saw the start of the role of social media in informing the world, and the Panama Spring is already showing the power of social media in transforming the world. While in Tunisia the self-immolation of a street vendor inspired a youth to sing a song on freedom that went viral and started a national movement. In Egypt when Mubarak clamped control on the electronic media, it was Wael Ghonim, Google’s marketing executive, whose post “We are all Khalid Mohammad Said” on his Facebook page about the man who was tortured to death by the government who made the uprising turn into
a revolution.

From spring of 2010 to spring of 2016 social media has overtaken media, and is now no longer an alternative but a mainstream vehicle that unlike the electronic media is the voice of the poor as it gives opportunity across classes, countries, age groups and segments to say, show and respond to millions of people within seconds. In the Arab Spring the main tool was Facebook; in the Panama Spring the ability of IT wizards to hack millions of documents and then in a click spread them all over the world through Twitter, Instagram, Snapchats etc is unprecedented. The Panama leaks would have never leaked with such speed, alacrity and scale had the social media not made the world so instant, virtual and global. The Wiki Leaks that shook the world were 1.73 gigabytes, and Panama leaks are 2,000 times bigger with 2.6 terabytes, covering 11.5 million papers. A decade ago, it would have taken warehouses and trucks to compile and transport the data in months to reach major countries. Today, it has just taken a few minutes to reach four corners of the world.

The question then is will the Panama Spring create more waves than the Arab Spring did? The answer is it has already created ripples, but will it really create tectonic shakeups remains to be seen. The ripples it has created are not just due to social media. It has happened because people being exposed in these leaks are from all parts of the world, especially the more developed world. The Iceland prime minister was the first to go as the public of Iceland is educated and knows how to hold leaders accountable. However, the more authoritarian regimes are more reluctant like China and Russia. Pakistan is a case of pretence democracy where all institutions seem to be serving and protecting the prime minister’s office rather than the public, and cries of moral authority are just laughed away. Thus, the ultimate game changer is the public awareness and pressure. Countries where the public is empowered, they exhibit the power to disempower the people in power. In countries where monarchies, closed governments and counterfeit democracies exist, scams on the rich and powerful fade into insignificance over a period of time.

The Arab Spring had a predictable fallout but the Panama Spring is diverse and unpredictable, and in this unpredictability lies the opportunity — the opportunity to create hope in despair and the opportunity to disempower
the powerful.

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A legal robbery

Panama leaks are not just document leaks, they are leaks in trust; they are leaks in transparency

When criminals are in the hiding they should not be pursued. As long as you are not caught you are innocent. Out of geographical boundaries, out of legal boundaries — that is the definition of money stowed away in grey warehouses in foreign lands. The Panama Papers have created sensation everywhere in the world. From Russia to Iceland and from India to Pakistan, there is uproar on hide-the-billions game played at the highest level. Most countries are mortified and are willing to investigate this scandal. Iceland has demanded and achieved the prime minister’s resignation, and India is promising a thorough investigation. In Pakistan, the attitude of the government and the Sharif family is typical: what is the big deal if a few billions have mysteriously found their way in other countries in some offshore and offhand accounts. The outrage at being questioned on a scandal that has rocked the world is really the root cause of why governance and rule of law is merely a matter of lip service in this country.

Having an offshore company is perfectly legal. However, offshore bank accounts and other financial dealings in another country can be used to evade regulatory oversight or tax obligations. Companies or individuals often use shell companies, initially incorporated without significant assets or operations to disguise ownership or other information about the funds involved. Shell companies and other entities can be misused by terrorists and others involved in international and financial crimes to conceal sources of funds and ownership. The ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalism) states that the files from Mossack Fonseca — the law firm involved in the Panama Papers scandal — include information on 214,488 offshore entities, linked to 14,153 clients, in 200 countries and territories. Among national leaders with offshore wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Prime Minister; Ayad Allawi, ex-interim prime minister and former vice-president of Iraq; Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine; Alaa Mubarak, son of Egypt’s former president; and the Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.

While establishing an offshore company is not illegal the purpose for which it is used is what makes it questionable. Majority of these companies are not used for foreign investment in the countries where they are established, like Panama and British Virgin Islands (BVI), but for hiding illegal black money, and then whitening it through some means to create investments in a third country. That is why the whole world is rattled by this scandal, and busy trying to investigate its depth and extent, while in Pakistan the accused are in a denial mode. All sorts of confusion prevails. After denying for years that the prime minister owned billions of rupees of property overseas, finally, Sharif and sons have admitted that they own property in UK. Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s flat denial previously, and a partial acceptance presently is something that is nothing new. What is new is that there are documents present that are direct from the agent the family hired to authenticate the claim that they are shareholders in this deal that they keep on denying.

The real issue is if it is straight money why hide it in a crooked dark alley. Why create a route through another country. Why deny its existence. All these why’s are responsible for the present uproar in the world, and in Pakistan. For example, while Maryam has said that she was just a trustee, the documents show that she is a shareholder. According to the Panama leaks, Nescol Limited and Nielson Holdings Limited were incorporated in the BVI in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and were held by one bearer share each, in the name of Maryam Safdar (Maryam’s married name). In February 2006, Maryam Safdar signed a resolution of the Nescol Limited as the “sole (bearer) shareholder”. Mossack Fonseca was appointed as the registered agent through the Minerva Trust, which described Maryam Safdar as the beneficial owner of both companies.

Aside from the ruling family, almost 200 Pakistanis are implicated in this scandal, which includes businessmen and judges. As is the case with other countries that include the US and UK, investigations and tax law changes are already in the offing. India has already asked for investigation involving top agencies with a deadline of April 25 to find the truth. Iceland Prime minister had to resign as the public protest forced him to give up his position. The reaction of the government in Pakistan has been typically late and lame. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation and narrated a whole story of how every government had targeted his family business, and reduced it to nothing. How he and his family had risen from these knockdowns and became richer than before. More than the content the prime minister’s attitude was the most disturbing part of his speech; here is a scandal that has rocked the world, and here is evidence from an international consortium of 400 journalists that had investigated this scandal. Here IS a case where country after country is forced to take extraordinary steps to deal with the crisis, and here is a prime minister who with a perturbed look on his face, puts the whole blame of these global leaks on local opposing forces conspiring in the country to bring him down. This response just about sums up the extent of understanding of the situation by the man in the top position, and his ability to deal with crisis. Eventually, there was the offer of forming a judicial commission under a retired judge, and asking the opposition to bring evidence and prove the case against him.

Firstly, the prime minister has to realise that this is not a local opposition party pressing charges, and thus a judicial commission would not be presented evidence by them. What is needed is to form an independent and empowered inquisitorial committee acceptable to all parties that uses international financial audit firms, NAB, and FIA to trace the trail of money to uncover any wrongdoing in its declaration, remittance and source. Without proper and thorough investigation, it will be merely another joint investigation team working without success, or produce a commission report like that of the Model Town incident, where despite concrete evidence nobody except the most dispensable were punished.

Even if all the Sharif family is saying is true, imagine the impact of the prime minister’s family setting up an example of tax avoidance to which they have admitted. While the FBR last week preached and celebrated “pay your tax week”, how in the world are they going to convince people to pay taxes when the prime minister is professing to practising tax avoidance? Also in question are the record 42 foreign tours the prime minister has made to invite investment in the country among other things. If billions of rupees of investment is being made by his own family outside Pakistan, imagine how convincing he must be painting Pakistan as an ‘investment haven’. Panama leaks are thus not just document leaks, they are leaks in trust; they are leaks in transparency; they are leaks in accountability; they are leaks in credibility and they are leaks in integrity.

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