Yet, an ethics committee would only help sidestep the real

problems. Why, for example, are the investigation and lawenforcement

agencies that fall under the purview of the interior
ministry not capable of doing the task? The unhappy truth is
that they simply cannot be trusted.

Asset declarations
THE asset declarations submitted by our political leadership
can only be described as a joke. Consider the example of
Nawaz Sharif. In the half decade between 2010 and 2015, his
declared assets went from Rs166m to Rs2bn, representing
more than a 10-fold increase.
At the same time, his taxes paid went from Rs2m to Rs2.6m in
2014, an increase of little more than one-third, which on a peryear
basis is below inflation for these years.

THE Election Commission of Pakistan‘s decision to remove all asset declarations of

parliamentarians and senators from its website is inexplicable. Moreover, the removal
of
these declarations at the height of the Panama Papers controversy makes the act
appear
even more suspicious.

MEMBERS of the Senate Committee on Human Rights were justifiably astounded to

learn that the Sindh government has spent over Rs10.3bn in Thar over the last three
years
on programmes to support food, health and general relief, simply because the results
are
nowhere to be seen for such a large sum of money.
Take the claim that Rs4.2bn worth of wheat was distributed free of cost throughout
the
district.
The Thar Commission‘s report that had been issued only a few days earlier, says
―there is
no evidence that all the poor people who deserve this service have got the wheat‖.

NAB raid
THE facts are unsurprising — even if the sums are eye-watering. The lessons are
many
and yet to be fully revealed.
Balochistan, a province that is routinely at the bottom of nationwide socioeconomic
rankings and, historically, perceived to be at the top of corruption rankings, is back in
the
news for all the wrong reasons. This time the matter is financial.
The finance secretary of Balochistan, Mushtaq Raisani, a man so skilled at his job and
considered invaluable by his political bosses that he managed to remain in the same
post
since the previous government, is accused of hiding in his home several hundred
million
rupees in cash.
Mr Raisani, now under arrest by the National Accountability Bureau, or his
representatives have not been heard from in public since, but the piles of cash
allegedly
recovered from his house are so huge as to be virtually impossible to have been
staged.

IN the approaching twilight of its term, the government is reportedly trying to resume
the
push towards privatisation.
But a lurking danger now is that the government may have given contradictory
assurances to various stakeholders in the process.

May Day announcement by the Punjab chief minister to raise the

minimum wage by Rs1,000. A hike in the minimum wage is not a bad thing, but the
timing of the announcement gives rise to suspicions that it is designed to buy support
at a
time when the government is struggling to regain its credibility.

FOR a number of years now, we have been hearing about how NAB lets people
accused of amassing fortunes through corrupt practices off the hook by negotiating
the
return of a portion of the funds they have been accused of acquiring illegally. When
the
matter was raised in newspaper commentaries, NAB wrote an angry letter to all
media
houses accusing them of not knowing their facts, and making the argument that
‗plea
bargains‘ are a normal part of any judicial system. But now, an authority no less than
the Supreme Court has said that the practice is ―in conflict with provisions of the
Constitution, where such power can only be exercised by a judicial forum‖.

On Saturday night, suspects

on a motorcycle tried to barge into a women‘s majlis in Karachi‘s Nazimabad area.
Unable to enter the house where the event was being held, the gunmen took aim at
people gathered outside; at least five people have been confirmed dead in the
attack.
This was the fourth sectarian attack during Muharram in Karachi. In earlier attacks
also,
people were shot outside their homes, while an IED was lobbed at a women‘s majlis
inside an imambargah. Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al-Alami, an offshoot of the dreaded
sectarian
outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, has claimed responsibility for the Nazimabad attack. During
the
months of Muharram and Safar, countless religious gatherings take place across the
country.

GOVERNMENTS the world over face frequent allegations of inappropriate

behaviour, and more seriously, corruption, from opponents. If the charges are
grave enough, momentum can build up and a protest movement take shape. In
underdeveloped political systems, such protest movements can take a violent
turn or lead to intervention by extra-constitutional actors. But in more mature
democracies, a combination of people power and parliamentary procedure can
help bring about change that does not violate democratic norms. On Friday,
South Korean lawmakers impeached President Park Geun-hye after weeks of
massive, but peaceful, street protests calling for her ouster. The leader has been
accused of corruption and abuse of power. While opposition and independent
lawmakers united for the move, some members of Ms Park’s own party also
supported the impeachment, helping secure the two-thirds majority needed for
the process. Allegations of corruption have also cost other leaders their jobs this
year. For example, in April, Iceland’s prime minister stepped down after
allegations emerged — from the Panama Papers — that he had questionable
offshore wealth, while Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was impeached in
August after she faced accusations of corruption.
IF the National Accountability Bureau believes it has done a good job by
recovering over Rs3bn from a former finance secretary of Balochistan and a co-
accused under a plea bargain agreement it should think again. When he was
caught, Mr Raisani was found with more than Rs730m in his home in cash. He
had no explanation for what these funds were intended for and why they were
in his home. Moreover, he was known to have transferred vast sums abroad,
most probably using the hundi and hawala channels for the purpose. At the
time, NAB accused him of involvement in corruption topping Rs40bn. Today, we
discover that all it has been able to recover from him are two automobiles and a
number of houses, meaning all that NAB could find in the case, after holding the
man since May, was what was visible to the naked eye: cash, gold, vehicles,
houses. Nothing has come to light about the activity the former official was
involved in, and now, as a result of the plea bargain, he walks away free with a
clean slate.

THE National Accountability Bureau is a patently flawed organisation, both in

terms of its design and discretionary powers and the workings of the institution.
It is for that very reason there is a political consensus that NAB should be
replaced with a new, better designed and better resourced organisation.
However, for obvious reasons, the political class has been slow to move on the
accountability agenda — public pressure and the misdeeds of many a politician
could rock the country’s foundations if an empowered and independent
accountability body were to be unleashed on the political landscape. But flawed
as the existing NAB is, it need not be the national embarrassment that it has
become and seems determined to continue being.

THE fact that the number of tax filings for the current fiscal actually dropped
from last year is a stark reminder that beneath the government’s claim to have
increased revenue collection since coming to power lies a vacuum. One caveat
perhaps is that unlike last year, the deadline has not been extended beyond Dec
31 this time. Perhaps the intention is to penalise those who will surely file in the
months ahead. Nevertheless, the fact that tax compliance is not improving even
as revenue climbs is the best indication that incremental revenue is being
squeezed out of those who are already in the net. For example, around 16,000
corporates filed a return this year, even though the total number of registered
companies in the country is around four times that. The sheer incapacity to
ensure compliance even from registered enterprises speaks to the enormously
weak revenue machinery of the state, which is able to come down with a heavy
hand only on those who agree to work within its rules. The tale on the personal
income tax side is even more appalling. Less than 900,000 people filed returns
this year, down from more than a million last year, although it is expected that
this year’s number will rise in the remaining months of the fiscal year.