In Quality Management, a Pareto Analysis is carried out to prioritize corrective action. The purpose is to separate the vital few from the trivial many for an effective outcome. As the land of the pure is undergoing a clean-up operation to regain its purity, it is important to resolve the vital few instead of running after the trivial many as is being pushed by the unscrupulous political elements to survive.
According to my Pareto Analysis for an effective political clean-up, the focus has to be on the first four vital corrupt elements, namely: I-Sharif, II-Zardari, III-Chaudhry, IV-Electables while the four trivial can be addressed later that include: V-MQM, VI-Religious Parties, VII-PTI, VIII-GDA. No one should escape accountability but focus and prioritization is important for a clean-up.
The Sharifs lead the pack of the corrupt as they face the highest number of corruption cases in their roughly three decades of rule with Zardari (Not the Bhuttos) is a close second. The Chaudhrys of Gujrat, who were the founders of corruption-driven politics under the patronage of Ayub Khan, come third.
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The evergreen electables keep going while stalling reforms in this vital sector. They jump from party to party to cling on to power to protect their wealth and privileges and hoping to get the top slot one day. Some of them profit from their dead by clinging to be caretakers (mujawars) of their earthly remains.
‘Vote Ko Izzat Do’: a mere slogan in politics to accumulate wealth?
Mian Muhammad Sharif, a small foundryman was the founder of this political dynasty. He very skillfully continued his corrupt business practices with state power through his oldest son Nawaz Sharif (NS), first as a provincial minister, then Chief Minister and finally Prime Minister.
After the 1985 partyless elections the electables, or lotas as they are called, emerged as a major threat to democracy which has to be dealt with to close the Zia era
From a small foundry on Fleming Road where manhole lids were produced, stolen, recycled to the local municipality, he built an empire. When the menace became un-manageable it was decided to replace the metal lids with concrete.
The worst period for the country was when one brother was running the province and the other the federation. Burning of vital records was their standard practice to erase trails. To get their way, almost all national institutions were rendered non-functional. Their dream of total control remains unfulfilled as the Armed Forces stand in their way. Their slogan of ‘Vote Ko Izzat Do’ is the biggest joke coming from back door entrant to politics.
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Was Asif Ali Zardari pursuing his ulterior motives all along?
Asif Zardari was always impressed by the Sharifs’ ability to generate wealth while avoiding conviction. Zardari succeeded where even Zia failed. At the cost of Bhutto’s legacy and sacrifices, he has been able to build his financial empire that runs into billions of dollars, closely competing with the Sharifs of Lahore.
While Zia is accused of killing Shahnawaz and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Zardari has been blamed for the murder of Murtaza and Benazir Bhutto. Recently I read that even the wedding of Zardari with daughter of the East was staged by Zia to neutralize her threat to the establishment.
Tale of Chaudhrys’ political dynasty
Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi, a dismissed sub-inspector of Police, was the founder of the Chaudhrys’ political dynasty. Ayub Khan wanted to counter the growing influence of Governor Malik Amir Muhammad Khan through a compliant and corrupt lackey. The autocratic Malik, who was financially honest, disliked the politician from Gujarat who was willing to compromise for wealth and power.
Unfortunately common law is unable to control white collar crimes as there are no trails or witnesses. There is no murder if the weapon or the body is not discovered
Starting from one bungalow in FCC Scheme the Chaudhrys now own a major portion of the street. It is now called Zahoor Elahi Road from where the empire operates while roads are blocked by their guards, visitors and opportunity-seeking politicians.
On one hand, they stall corruption cases against them while on the other they seek relief claiming that the investigations are time-barred. Because of our political realities the PM is in alliance with their PML(Q), but is unwilling to accommodate the next generation, so as to end this legacy of political corruption.
After the 1985 partyless elections the electables, or lotas as they are called, emerged as a major threat to democracy which has to be dealt with to close the Zia era. In the 1970 elections the ideology-driven People’s Party knocked out most of the electables created by the first dictator.
Read more: A country marred by corruption
Again the PTI was denied an election victory in 2013 to protect status-quo electables. Kaptaan was hospitalized, and there was no one left to lead the spontaneous protest of the youth that erupted when their vote was stolen by PML(N) in Lahore. Both Khawaja Saad Rafique and Ayaz Sadiq were de-seated by the election tribunal, Hamid Khan was also denied victory.
Political cleansing must reach a logical conclusion
Now that political cleansing has started it must lead to conviction or in no sense for a logical close. Unfortunately, common law is unable to control white-collar crimes as there are no trails or witnesses. There is no murder if the weapon or the body is not discovered. The process of bails and appeals is unending.
While some believe that, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ others are of the opinion that, ‘justice rushed is justice crushed’. In order to move forward and to reverse the effects of four martial laws, the stalemate to clean-up has to be overcome.
Read more: Pakistan: Leaders must be elected, not imposed
A separate tribunal or a Truth and Reconciliation or an Assets Reconciliation Commission may be required. The Pareto Chart if followed can effectively clean-up the political arena, but the analysis must continue to ensure credible politics as it was in the periods of 1947 to 1958 and then 1971 to 1977, the two real democratic eras.
Dr. Farid A.Malik is the Ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation. (Fr. General Manager PITAC, Process Engineering Manager Intel Corporation Engineering and Management Consultant). An expert on mining and energy, currently working on developing clean Coal Technologies for Thar Deposit. He was a Shadow Minister PTI and Co-Ordinator of the PTI Think Tank where the framework of the Welfare State was developed. The article was first published in Pakistan Today and has been republished here with the author’s permission. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.