Pakistan in Media

The statement by former ISI chief Lt-Gen Asad Durrani before the Supreme Court that he had transferred large sums of money to named politicians, to bolster the IJI election campaign in 1990, is another reminder of the close nexus between agencies and political happenings. Nearly 15 years after the event, excerpts from the statement have been broadcast by Geo TV. While the involvement of the then army chief and president in the effort to weaken the PPP, ousted in 1990 and defeated in the elections that followed, is hardly news – the revelations regarding funds which went into selected accounts will embarrass a number of politicians. Most significant at this time, among the names given out by Durrani, is that of Mian Nawaz Sharif. Even if the stories that have suddenly started to emerge are motivated by an attempt to silence Sharif as he continues to demand the trial of ex-president Musharraf, they do inflict on him considerable damage. The PML-N has long been seen as the 'front' for the establishment; there are those who believe its victory in the 1996 polls was also 'assisted' to ensure for it an overwhelming majority in parliament. The role for the party in opposition to the military since 1999, when Sharif was ousted, was an unusual one – and in some ways at least remains so.

But this factor aside, the evidence emerging of the extent of agencies' involvement in political events is telling. It brings into question the very nature of our democracy; we must ask how much of the expensive electoral process we go through is in fact tampered with or manipulated. Even politicians who have repeatedly taken the moral high ground on various issues have been named on the latest list. They can attempt to justify accepting the money which, ostensibly, came from the Karachi 'business community'. But the hard fact is that bribes were accepted and there is no way of getting around this. Now that these details have begun to surface, there is a need to ponder certain issues. Somehow we need to distance the military from politics. Its involvement makes the use of money to lure politicians even more damaging then the corruption involving electoral funds that exists in so many nations. Perhaps the fact that past misdeeds have now come out into the open is also a reminder to politicians that they cannot expect to get away scot-free with wrongdoing. This may serve as some kind of lesson for the future and introduce an era of greater accountability in our politics.
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