Corruption in legal system | Op-ed | Security Lense | 20-Sep-2024
In Pakistan, the legal system is basically set up by the laws formulated by the parliament. Parliament is where the lawmakers sit together to formulate policies for the reforms in the country and to work on the already created laws that need changes with the time being.
The core function of the parliament is to provide relief to the country’s population by providing them relief and safe environment where they can invest and live their life in accordance to whatever religion they follow. Pakistan is a state that came into being on the name of Islam. So that is evident from our constitution that all laws are in conformity with the Islamic injunctions.
Government enablers or elite’s lapdog. Yes, you read it right. The said thing is a harsh reality of Pakistan’s legal system, whether we look into the cases being investigated or whenever there is an onset of prosecution against any member of some elite class. Our country like other democratic countries has many accountability organizations that work for combating corruption and nepotism. In this article we are going to discuss those organizations which are working in Pakistan for accountability and act as a watchdog. Also to highlight how and what forces them to act as the lapdog of Elites.
Our country legal institutions are federally or provincially administered, currently the biggest and most effective accountability check done in our country is through NAB and FIA. Both of these are investigating multiple cases of corruption having a high rate of conviction as compared to provincially administered institutions of the government. However these institutions have a stigma attached to them that they are used by those in power against their rivals and act as tool for political victimization.
NAB is National Accountability Bureau, The NAB was created as the Ehtesab cell’s replacement under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and was also tasked with preventing and increasing public awareness of corruption. According to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2010, the NAB is also in charge of conducting money-laundering investigation. One of the reasons making this body as a controversial one was because it was formed in the tenure of General Musharraf a military dictator who overthrew a democratic government by abuse of power.
According to NAB annual report, the conviction rate of NAB is 75%, so the question arises that when we have such an effective accountability bureau why come we are facing corruption in Pakistan. According to the corruption perception index of Transparency International, Pakistan has a score of 29 in the year 2023 with of change of 2 percent increase since last year. The answer to the question is that the institutions itself act as tool for political victimization instead of being motivated to curb the festering problem of corruption.
How constitutional institution act as a tool for elites? In the past development after the regime change in Pakistan during 2022, we saw a major amendment which restricted certain powers of the NAB. This was presented to the house as 2nd NAB amendment bill. In those amendments the jurisdiction of NAB was limited to the cases that involved 500 million. The question arises, why need of such an amendment? Do our law makers not think that less than 500 million corruption should be investigated by the NAB? Instead of improving and trying to fasten the process of accountability they are now hindering the way for authorities to end corruption.
Another amendment made to the NAB ordinance was the NAB’s authority to allow surveillance with the help of the high court will be withdrawn, including any assistance from the government agencies to use against the accused in the trail. This arises another question what happens where the resources of NAB are limited and they need assistance to carry on the investigations against the accused, who will be providing them assistance with?
Consequences of these amendments, results in the acquittal of those who were once under trail because of insufficient evidence against them as said in the new amendment. Many prominent names were included in the list that got exonerated because of these new laws and none of them was a common man but a person that was part of or somehow a facilitator of Elite class in Pakistan.
This NAB amendment is actually how elite protects each other when there is their own interest. Talking about this amendment we can call it as person specific. The amendment also included providing strong right of defense to accused. The mere intention of this bill was to save the accused who is already under investigation of massive corruption.
Another big flaw of the legal system in Pakistan, where a common man pays the price is that whenever there is a trail on going in the courts of law, those prosecutors that are representatives of the government are either paid less or not even paid for the findings they did. In comparison to that that lawyers representing the accused not only get handsome pays but even get the media acknowledgment by giving them time in the press conferences.
We do hear that some very high quality lawyer is representing ex-prime minister but we have never heard about the prosecutor who is fighting the case against the accused prime minister. Moreover, carrying on investigations against persons of such high authority in the past, the prosecutor is vulnerable to even threats by the supporters and how can we exactly expect them to work with dedication when their own life is at risk. Would anyone risk the career of his to carry on investigations against a person who could regain the seat through power and can make the prosecutor pay through potential retribution and harsh consequences? For me the answer to question is quite evident and that is a no.
In my opinion, I think that the parliament should not be the one making laws for the elite but to make laws that work and protect the common man in Pakistan. This is a real issue that whenever the process of accountability is started, either it is said as victimization in politics or compromised one. Our lawmakers have to make sure that the laws they are formulating in the future are not of such nature that compromise the process of accountability but to strengthen the institutions so that they could work in their best to put an end to the stigma of corruption in Pakistan.
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