According to US journalist Seymour Hersh, Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf used strong and highly demeaning adjectives – like criminal, fraud and third-rater — to describe his successor, Asif Zardari. The former president went on to assert that Mr Zardari would do anything to save himself, he was not a patriot and that he had no love for Pakistan. This characterisation of Mr Zardari will most definitely ruffle the feathers of his diehard supporters, like Fauzia Wahab, Farhatullah Babar, Qamaruzzaman Kaira, Babar Awan, Rahman Malik and Governor Taseer; the last being most offended, may unleash a tirade of similar adjectives against the person of Pervez Musharraf in retaliation.
The question, however, is whether this characterisation of Mr Zardari will offend the sensibility of the nation as a whole. Will civil society of Pakistan stand up for Mr Zardari and take exception to the adjectives used for him by his predecessor? The truth of the matter is that the nation, by and large, dictated by its experience and perception about the person of Mr Zardari, will remain passive and will not react negatively to what has been said by a former president about his incumbent successor.
The reason for this negative passiveness of civil society is the level of unprecedented and rampant corruption prevalent in the country today under the PPP-led government. This is a government which has failed miserably to provide safety and security to its people, basic necessities such as food items, control deteriorating law and order, discipline and prosecute the sugar and cement cartels and the land mafia. The acquisition of 300 acres of prime Islamabad land by a firm allegedly owned by Mr Zardari at a throwaway price and the allotment of the choicest 1,000 square-yard residential plots to legislators by the prime minister are some of the examples of high-level corruption.
In this context, a World Bank report published in your newspaper on November 9 highlights the rampant corruption in the PPP-led government of Sindh. The report cited corruption as the biggest and most serious impediment to progress and development in the province. Sadly, neither the president nor the prime minister nor the chief minister of Sindh have taken any steps to arrest corruption, rather they are promoting unethical financial practices as mentioned above. Under the circumstances, who would stand up for Mr Zardari or, for that matter, the entire PPP-led dispensation?
M S Hasan
Karachi |
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