The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV.
No one should shed a tear or feel sad if the powerful are put in the dock for financial corruption and embezzlement. In this country justice has been particularly blind to the misdeeds of the rich and their sidekicks. If a few of them are made to pay the price of their terrible actions, we should all be happy.
These small mercies are hard to find in a network designed by the powerful for themselves, by themselves and of use only to themselves. In this context the ongoing probe into the alleged Defence Housing Authority project land scandal looks apt and in line with the sort of even-handed justice that has only been spoken of but has never been witnessed.
However, only fools will fall for the purity of intent and merit that is being attributed to the effort. Since it broke out over a week ago, the scandal has made headlines. There has been a glut of analysis. The spread and focus of the media campaign raise questions as to whether even the best of goals (accountability) isn’t being turned into a medium for personalised campaigns and behind-the-scenes power games.
Kamran Kayani, a central character in the official and media damnation of the ‘culprits’, is the younger brother of former chief of army staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. Kamran allegedly benefited from a profitable deal in land matters pertaining to housing that was supposed to be both a reward for and relief to, among others, the families of the martyrs. The assumption is that General Kayani’s office either directly or indirectly facilitated deals worth billions of rupees allowing Kamran and others to make a fortune.
It looks obvious that this link that Kamran has with General Kayani is what is driving official and media interest in the story. Because if this weren’t the case, this story would be considered a matter of least interest and dealt with in the same manner that we have seen land-related stories are dealt with: no focus, no follow-up.
If fact and truth be told, Pakistan’s state institutions have been virtually hostage to the leading lights of real-estate mafias whose bosses at times control state and government policies related to regulations and laws to probe their realms. The media too is under their heel. They call the shots. They have the privilege of not being discussed in any manner except for the interviews they choose to give and the advertisements that they throw at commercially-hungry outlets. Even the Defence Housing Authority is a name that is off-limits for any meaningful debate and critical discussion. What goes on inside this vast empire is a closely-guarded secret, and those prying on it pay a heavy price for being nosey; and are categorised as anti-state.
It is interesting how the media debate on the present scandal scrupulously avoids any mention of the possibilities of fundamental moral and legal flaws in the whole idea of a professional army running a housing authority. Or other business for that matter. To the National Accountability Bureau’s publicity-loving chief and to the worthy analysts dealing with details of this scandal, this larger question seems irrelevant. Their preference is to prove that while certain characters like Kamran and Hammad through a nod-and-wink arrangement with the ex-army chief are the villains of the piece, the DHA system itself is the purest of the pure and is absolutely beyond reproach and need for probe.
Generally, this kind of distinction would be considered a cop-out. For investigators as well as for the media, one scandal is always the tip of the iceberg. A story is followed by demands to throw the net of investigation wider and to look for bigger frauds perpetuated through more organised and systematic nexuses. However, no such aftermath has been witnessed in this case so far, making the claims of ‘brave internal cleansing’ quite suspect and motivated.
Reinforcing these suspicions are other facts that no one is willing to talk about in public. There are real cases of mega corruption of diverse nature that have come to light in the recent past. The list has names that not long ago were considered iconic in terms of the posts they held and the duties they performed. Besides the recently-retired category, there are those who are still around and about whose activities enough material is available to start criminal proceedings immediately. Also, going by how such things happen, these men aren’t the first ones of their type nor would be the last.
Put differently, they represent a disturbing trend of abuse of honourable office and rebellion against oath of service to the state. They have amassed such wealth and fortunes that it is beyond an ordinary person’s imagination but live without any fear of accountability. It is amazing that a system that is showing extraordinary exuberance in pursuing the DHA plot scam falls into total paralysis when it comes to these cases. The zest for cleaning the dirty stables in one case is replaced with total inaction in a vast number of other cases whose details are the talk of the town.
This makes the conclusion inescapable that the central target of this hype is not Kamran Kayani and his friends. It is his brother, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani who evokes strangely divided emotions among the public and is not exactly a favourite of the present army chief. It goes without saying that if General Kayani had even a tiny spot of personal corruption on his uniform he would have been skinned by now. It is also safe to assume that if he had a penchant for accumulating fortunes the first evidence of that would have come from the fortunes of his children and their lifestyles. His bank accounts, properties, liquid cash details and assets would have been the most obvious pointers to his conduct in office.
So far no such material has come out. What we have are allegations of shady dealings of his brother (who could well have unbridled ambitions and the disease-like get-rich-quick desire) and the no less shady yet popular thesis that General Kayani must have approved and facilitated all that he did. Interestingly, everyone is jumping on to the bandwagon of the kill-Kayani-through-his-brother group, which itself speaks of how exceptional this campaign has become.
Shahbaz Sharif, who could not spend a day without calling the Army House where Kayani sat, and who left no resource of the Punjab government unused in the service of army welfare projects, suddenly developed an alternate memory bank last week to claim that he too was not satisfied with the doings of General Kayani’s brothers.
The PPP, whose prime minister made a speech on national TV announcing an extension in General Kayani’s service, too has discovered the lost bit of history to claim that its leadership was compelled to take this decision. Others, who could not praise the Boss enough, are now wielding knives relentlessly into him to prove to the present Boss that they love him as much they hate his predecessor.
Suddenly, through this campaign the universal criterion for judging the competence of a general has been changed. It is no longer whether he can hold a rifle straight, lead his men through treacherous battles or do strategic planning to deal with unfolding threats. It is not even whether he can organise, train and equip men under his command to stay war-ready; whether he can finish the operations he starts in time, achieve goals with reduced financial and human cost; whether (and this applies to countries like Pakistan, with long praetorian history,) he can help democratic institutions flourish and take root by maintaining, if nothing else, a semblance of subservience to civilian authority.
Suddenly through this campaign, a new criterion to judge whether a general is competent or otherwise has been installed: it is not about professional matters but about brothers and their lives. On that count, General Kayani does not do well. On that count General Raheel Sharif does exceptionally well. Kayani’s brothers are embroiled in a land scam. Sharif’s brother lives forever through a Nishan-e-Haider. If we see the DHA affair in this light, we can understand better what the fuss and campaign is all about.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/91873-The-DHA-scam-a-different-dimension
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