Democracy Can Never Eradicate Political Corruption in Pakistan

Under Democracy, government institutions are hotbeds of corruption in Pakistan. According to the 2017 Transparency International report, Pakistan is the 116th most corrupt country out of 176 countries. According to the 23 May 2017 report of Khabrian Newspaper, members of the national and provincial assemblies, ministers and advisors from Sindh, including more than 100 bureaucrats are facing corruption charges in Sindh High Court, National Accountability Bureau Court and Anti-Corruption Courts. In 2016, Panama Leaks showed how Pakistan's leading politicians, their relatives and influential people hid their black money through offshore companies. No doubt, Panama Leaks and other media disclosures are only the tip of the iceberg of corruption. Under Democracy, the result of each election has ensured that only the corrupt return to the parliament consistently even if there were new faces within them.

Various measures have been taken to end corruption under Democracy. The concept of a graduate assembly was introduced, Articles 62 and 63 were included in the Constitution, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was established to name a few. However, corruption remained. The everyday stories of corruption of parliamentarians compel to think that there is not a single sincere politician in Pakistan. Some people then claim that the majority of the people of Pakistan are corrupt, from a cart vendor to a senior bureaucrat, and that is why the corruption of the politicians is inevitable, asserting that the members of the parliament are a reflection of the people of Pakistan.

However, upon examination of other countries, wherever Democracy has come into existence, the power has always gone into the hands of corrupt elite groupings. The West, where Democracy originated, is not free from corruption either. The list of corrupt individuals is extensive in countries like Britain and America too. Democracy patronizes corruption through its very being and so corrupt are drawn towards it, like bees to honey.

Similar to all Democracies, in Pakistan, large amounts of funds are spent in winning elections by the candidates. This money is spent on publicity campaigns, buying voters, giving money to supporters. If it is asked as to why candidates spend millions of rupees upon elections, it is said that this is done in the spirit of public service. However, if that were really the case, then why do these politicians not spend even a few thousand rupees for the public outside of elections? The reality is that politics is business. Spending on elections is an investment for the corrupt, who gain personal benefits through politics. They know that after entering into Democracy, their financial return will be far, far greater than the millions they spent on elections.

So how does Democracy ensure corruption, exactly?

Every candidate in Pakistan dreams of not only winning the elections, but of getting some ministry as well, especially the ministries where there are opportunities for corruption, such as water, power, agriculture, health, railways and forestry. So, after winning the elections, members of the same party are seen competing with each other to gain control over lucrative ministries in the provinces and the center.

Democracy in Pakistan asserts that power rests in the hands of the people and that the people will rule through their representatives. However, the authority of departments of public facilities, such as health, education, water, power and environment, are firmly in the hands of the public representatives. These departments are placed under various ministries, each of which is headed by a minister, who is the final authority. For example, the policy for the measures on fulfilling the power shortage in Pakistan is determined by the federal cabinet, which decides whether new dams should be built, or whether solar energy or oil and gas should be used to overcome the shortage. Then, the policy is implemented at the level of the relevant ministry, under the authority of its minister. If at the national level, it has been decided that the power shortage will be managed through solar energy units, then the ministry of power and electricity approaches relevant companies for the installation of the projects. At that time, these companies try their level best to please the minister because having any big project means huge profits. So, for the approval of different tenders, the ministers are offered bribes and kickbacks. Then a series of bribes and kickbacks go down the line from the minister to the secretary and then to every public department. Thus, Democracy ensures a whole environment of corruption.

In a country like Pakistan, which is full of resources but backward in terms of progress, the main mega projects are handed over to foreign multinational companies. These agreements are fixed in various international tours by the Prime Minister himself. Ministers of the respective ministries happily become a part of the delegation accompanying the Prime Minister during these tours, because for them, all the cost of these lavish tours are borne through the national exchequer, allowing their daily allowance to go into their pockets. In addition, there are visits to seminars and workshops held in different countries related to departmental affairs. Being the final authority, the minister has the authority for the recruitment of employees in his department. These jobs are not given on merit, but are sold and the minister receives the payment according to the seniority grade of the job. Employment is awarded to people whom the minister favors, with relatives adjusted in a number of departments. This works on a reciprocal basis, so a minister who has good relations with another minister accommodates his relative in exchange for accommodation of a friend.

Revenues, allocated to the departments from the state treasury for the needs of the people, are instead spent on lavish renovation of offices in the name of construction work, whereas while portraying luxuries as needs, the purchasing of expensive vehicles and costly air conditioning of the department is a common practice. In September 2017, the PTI's Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued a tender for the construction of a swimming pool in the Chief Minister House, which was estimated to exceed 18 million. However, due to the news breaking everywhere on the print, electronic and social media, he withdrew his decision. This is the state of the Chief Minister of the party that is always raising hue and cry about the squandering of the public money at the hands of the rulers and the cruelty of the system. There are huge areas of government lands available in the ownership of different government departments. The ministers buy these expensive lands at throwaway prices and increase their property holdings. Similarly, in the approval of the tenders for the allotment of government lands and various contracts, nepotism is widely practiced. A person of a corrupt mentality does not only want to increase his wealth, but wishes that he be recognized everywhere by the people. Becoming a minister gives him the opportunity to elevate his status. Media coverage of various activities of public works, the photographs in advertisements published in major newspapers at the expense of the ministry's public funds, invitations to media talk-shows make a minister a celebrity in the whole country. A corrupt person also desires a warm protocol wherever he goes, with people walking behind and meeting him humbly so that he appears prominent. Democracy in Pakistan provides ample opportunity for such self-serving aggrandizement. In the name of security, each minister is provided a police detail, with sirens blaring ahead and behind his parade of vehicles, adding to the narcissistic mania of the corrupt person.

These are just some of the details of the benefits a corrupt politician gets from any minister.

As for those who do not get ministries and remain as legislators only, the ruling party releases development funds of billions of rupees to them in the name of local governments schemes. The real purpose is to increase the influence of the Members of the National Assembly in their areas. The government boasts that the purpose of these funds is for the construction of roads, provision of clean water and the improvement in the sewage system in the area by their public representatives. However, after spending billions of rupees, it is obvious upon seeing broken roads and blocked sewage drains that the money lines the corrupt of the corrupt. After remaining negligent of the affairs of the public for the first four years of its term, the current ruling PML-N party has suddenly released a developmental fund of Rs. 653 billion for Parliamentarians Schemes for 2017-18. Clearly, the purpose of releasing the funds in the last year is to enhance the position of the ruling party legislators in the upcoming elections.

Additionally, at the grass roots level, the administrative machinery and the departments are deliberately kept sluggish and inefficient so that an ordinary man cannot be heard without a powerful reference. In such an environment, when this ordinary man wants to apply for a gas or electricity connection or submit a complaint to the area police, he has to go to the touts of the legislators, commonly known as “party workers”. These party workers have links in every department and so any task becomes easier. The area police know that if they do not listen to the ruling party worker, they can be pressurized by the area legislator. So, these workers provide so-called helping hands to the ordinary people, who do not have any position or social status. Thus, they are obliged to extend their votes in the election in return of such kind of favors. Inevitably, these actions by the party workers make the legislators even stronger in their areas. The purpose of public service is to get the public votes and not looking after the affairs of the people with sincere intent. It becomes a mission of these political workers to undertake every legitimate or illegitimate work in various departments for their supporters and friends. Thus, a complete environment of corruption prevails in various departments at the grass roots level too.

Thus, we see how placing public facilities departments under the public representatives and the allocation of development funds have made the whole political environment corrupt. The public is not provided the facilities as a right upon the concept that a ruler is obliged to provide the basic facilities such as health, education and security. Such facilities are provided only as a reciprocal “favor” to strengthen their constituencies and their votes. As for the areas where the feudal culture remains strong, such as in Southern Punjab and Interior Sindh, a feudal chief knows that the people will never dare to vote for anyone other than him. He knows that none can even think of standing in elections against him. He knows well that he or any of his close relatives would definitely win the elections. Thus, a feudal chief does not care about the plight of the people of his area, whether they have water, electricity, gas, health and education facilities or not.

Legislators in Pakistan also enjoy perks such as official lunches, dinners, Ramadan iftaris, air tickets, free foreign medical treatments and large monthly salaries. And if the legislator is a blue-eyed boy of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister, he gets a share from their discretionary funds too. A simple assembly member is not less in his desire for popularity in his area than a minister. Their arrogance can be judged by the incident in which a MPA slapped a doctor just because he did not stand in his respect (Dawn, May 27, 2014).

As for the position of the Prime Minister, it can only be reached by the person who is the most corrupt in his mentality and enjoys American support. The post of Prime Minister is the most powerful in ruling and so its authority, privileges and opportunities for corruption are commensurately the highest. He appoints all the ministers of his cabinet and has the authority to withdraw their appointments. Therefore, the ministries are run according to his wishes whilst at the provincial level, this authority lies with the Chief Minister.

The system is fully supportive of the personal interests of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister. By spending billions of rupees from the public exchequer, the people are told that our popular prime minister or chief minister till date has spent upon many hospitals, schools, roads and electricity projects. The people are then made beholden to them as if the minister had paid from his own pocket. Then the minister spends additional funds for advertisements in the electronic and print media, banners, billboards, posters and placards on every street, to advertise his “generosity”.

Democracy will always breed corruption because the legislative authority is in the hands of the public representatives. Democracy's form of legislation is the principal corruption as it provides legal protection for the corruption of our rulers. The Seventeenth Amendment, the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and the Economic Reforms Protection Act are just a few examples of Democracy working to secure the corrupt. The history of Pakistan is a witness as to how through the Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment, the United States was supported in the war against Afghanistan to kill Muslims. In exchange of US dollars, more than five hundred Muslims were sent to Guantanamo Bay and bases and were provided to the Americans. These lowly acts of treachery were made above any judicial accountability because the parliament of Pakistan passed the 17th Constitutional Amendment with two-thirds majority. So, the actions of Musharraf in his first three years of rule could not be challenged in any court of law. As for the National Reconstruction Ordinance (NRO), cases ranging from the murder of thousands to the plunder of billions of rupees were made immune from accountability. According to the deal, Musharraf could become the President with the support of the corrupt. This opened the door again for even more corrupt to return to the power again for a few years before the Supreme Court closed this door, whilst leaving others wide open.

As for Article 62, Clause (1)(f) of the Constitution, through which Nawaz Shareef was declared disqualified for public office, the scandalous statement of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is present on public record in which he declared that this Constitutional article could be removed via consultation with other political parties (Dawn, 8 August 2017)! Moreover, in order to facilitate the corrupt, the Economic Reforms Protection Act was a facility for the corrupt, where through losing a fraction of black money, the rest can be legalized. Thus, Democracy is an incubator for corruption. Similarly, through the determination of tax rates in the budget on various imported goods, industrial machinery and agricultural products, these rulers provide benefits to the businesses, factories and agricultural production that are owned by them or their cronies, thus, turning their profits from millions into billions. It is the legislative authority in Democracy which gives them this opportunity for corruption because the budget is in fact law for one year, enforced through the approval of the parliament.

Although law making in democracy is viewed as the right of every public representative individually, in reality the decision to change the constitution and law is made by the Prime Minister alone with the advice of his close associates. The text of the law is written by legal experts and then presented in the form of a bill in Parliament while the rest of the members of the assembly merely raise their hands in its favor or opposition. Practically, they have no say in the legislation process so much so that sometimes the majority of the members of the parliament have not even read the draft of the proposed law. Thus, the greatest beneficiaries of legislation are the Prime Minister and his close associates alone.

The crux of the issue is that Democracy, itself, is the root cause of corruption in Pakistan. The structure of the institutions and the distribution of power have been made in such a manner that they generate and perpetuate corruption. All this is possible due to Democracy granting the power of legislation and sovereignty to human-beings. It is this legislation, in the Constitution of Pakistan, which dispenses powers to the Prime Minister and other Ministers.

Since Democracy accords sovereignty to parliament, it is actually the legislation through which it is decided that the command of the public facilities departments would be in the hands of the public representatives. It is again the process of legislation through which the members of the assembly decide in the budget, including the taxation or exemption from tax of various items. There is a proverb that states: “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This proverb was said in the context of kingships (monarchies) that were present before the implementation of Democracy in the West and all the authority was centered in the hands of those kings who used to tax the masses and oppress them in various ways. When Democracy was set up in reaction, sovereignty was divided into the hands of many people, so that the power to legislate would not be concentrated in one person. However, Democracy also failed to eradicate corruption because sovereignty remained in the hands of men. Previously, sovereignty was in the hands of one person, the monarch, whereas now it was handed over to parliaments. There is no power greater than the power of law making, legislation, through which a small group can decide for millions of people what is permissible for them, what is legitimate and what is forbidden. In this system, whenever the parliamentarians wish, they can rob the people of their hard-earned money by raising taxation; their foreign currency accounts can be frozen by issuing a single circular and development projects which are of no real use to the public are undertaken against large interest based loans, plunging the country further into the debt trap.

Corruption in Pakistan and granting sovereignty to corrupt people are in the interest of the foreign colonialist powers too. Foreign colonialist powers promote those who are ready to exploit the public for their personal interests. They encourage a ruling system that protects their corrupt agent politicians. Only such corrupt politicians can safeguard the interests of the United States in Pakistan in a better way. For the sake of the American interests, such politicians can even cause devastation for the people of Pakistan, just as foreign powers would do directly. Democracy is also in the interests of the corrupt within the military leadership though they superficially give disdain for it. The rampant corruption of the politicians of Pakistan make them easy targets of the intelligence agencies. They compile evidence of their corruption in order to blackmail them or to ensure their loyalties switch. Corruption also provides opportunity for the political maneuvering as seen clearly in the era of General Musharraf immediately after his military take over.

Thus, Democracy is the cause of corruption in Pakistan. It is now essential to see how the Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the Method of the Prophethood will end this corrupt environment. In the Islamic ruling system, institutions are established in such a way that they block opportunities for corruption.

In the Islamic Khilafah state, the Khaleefah is the head of the state. He appoints Walis as rulers over Wilayahs (provinces), whereas for cities there are Aamils that are designated. Each city is administratively divided into four districts. In the Khilafah, looking after the affairs of the people is the responsibility of various departments and institutions. The Director General is the head of each public utility department and, under him, there are various departments, each of which has a Director who is directly responsible for that service. All such directors, from the administrative aspect, are answerable to the Director General for their department, whereas from the angle of the law and its implementation, they are answerable to the Wali of a Wilayah and the Aamil of a city. These Directors are state employees and not rulers, whose selection is based on their qualifications and professional abilities.

For all the citizens of his province, fulfilling the basic needs such as water, food, clothing and shelter is the responsibility of the Wali, as well as basic facilities, such as health, education, and security. Adequate infrastructure planning, related to the problems of the citizens, is also his duty. He provides communication networks, agricultural facilities, employment opportunities and construct roads and bridges. The Wali carries out this work through public utility departments and institutions, whilst the public representatives in the Majlis of the Wilayah assist him in his work. They make him aware of the needs of the various regions and advise him. Contrary to Democracy, in the Khilafah state, the members of the Majlis of the Wilayah neither run any department and nor do they have any ministry working under them. The directors of the public facility departments and institutions are government servants and not rulers. They do not have the authority to make policies and the policy making comes under the authority of the Khaleefah and the Walis on the basis of Islam alone. The responsibility of these directors is the efficient implementation of these policies to the best of their abilities using modern methods and new styles.

The structure of the Khilafah is distinct from dictatorship where the dictator runs the government through beauracrats and technocrats, so that he is free from the accountability of the public representatives and decides whatever he wishes. In the Khilafah state, the Khaleefah cannot be heedless of the public representatives because at the Wilayah level if the majority members of the Majlis of the Wilayah are unsatisfied with the performance and demand the removal of a Wali, then his removal becomes binding on the Khaleefah. The Majlis of the Ummah at the state level has the responsibility of continuous performance appraisal and accountability of the Khaleefah, the Walis and the Aamils. Thus, the Khilafah is not like a dictatorship in Pakistan where the likes of technocrats, such as Moeen Qureshi and Shaukat Aziz, respectively former employees of the World Bank and City Bank, are installed to head the governments on the behest of the foreign colonialist powers.

Unlike Democracy, in the Islamic Khilafah, the public representatives neither have ministries nor any kind development funds because the construction and repair of roads, street lights, water and sewerage system and parks are the responsibility of the public facility departments. It is the primary responsibility of the Walis and Amils to be aware of the resources and the needs of the area and they must fulfill them without any delay, with the assistance of the Majlis of the Wilayah.

Here a question may arise over whether the head of a public facility department can also indulge in corruption in the way that public representatives do in Democracy? Firstly, due to sovereignty not being in the hands of the public representatives, the political arena becomes free from corruption, whose source is man-made law. Only those who want to command the good and forbid evil, in accordance to all that Allah (swt) has revealed, come forward to take part in elections. In the Khilafah, the selection of the head of the public facility departments is an administrative appointment not through popular representation. It is exclusively made on merit. The ones who reach these positions pass through rigorous Islamic culturing and years of hard work and are compensated with modest salaries. A corrupt, incompetent person will find no attraction in such hard work without extravagant compensation, as seen in corruption ridden Democracy. Contrary to the public representative in Democracy, the person appointed to such posts neither has the opportunity to foster influence nor the funds at his disposal to do so. The Islamic culturing develops a special mindset which is a stark contrast from the mentality of the public representative in democracy who invests millions of rupees to earn billions and that too within his current ministerial tenure of five years, just in case he could not win the next elections.

In the Khilafah, the fact that sovereignty, the right to legislation, neither in the hands of the rulers nor the public representative prevents corruption from the root. Sovereignty is exclusively the prerogative of the Legislator, the Creator (swt) of the universe, with Whom no one has any share in. Allah (swt) said [اِنِ الْحُکْمُ اِلاَّ لِلہِ[ "The ruling belongs to none but Allah” [Surah Al-Yousuf:40]

So, in the Islamic Khilafah, the laws can only be extracted from the Divine, revealed sources, the Quran and the Sunnah. The Khaleefah can neither change a forbidden (Haraam) to become allowed (Halaal), nor an allowed to become forbidden. Nor can the Khaleefah forbid people from the permissible (Mubah) without a Shari evidence because he is prohibited from making laws according to his whims and desires. Hence, in the Khilafah State, the Khaleefah cannot manipulate laws to allow the foreign multinational companies to exploit the resources in exchange of his personal bank balance. Nor can the Khaleefah abolish the Khiraaj on agricultural land or Ushr on agricultural production from feudal chiefs to keep them happy because these are Islamic revenues, levied based on Shari evidence. Nor can the Khilafah allow the privatization of profitable energy and mineral enterprises for the sake of obtaining commission because Islam has prohibited the ownership of what it deems to be public properties by individuals or companies. In the Khilafah, the situation will never be like that of today; when the people of Balochistan are dying from famine and water scarcity, whilst billions of rupees are spent for the construction of a sports stadium in their province. Nor will millions of rupees be spent on the renovation of the offices of the rulers because in Islam fulfilling the basic needs takes priority over luxuries. The Khaleefah cannot even spend a single Dinar from the Bait-ul-Mal without a Shari evidence to support such expense. The Khaleefah is neither allowed to impose tax according to his own desires, nor is he allowed to increase or decrease the duties on raw materials of factories or on other imported goods to give benefit to any particular individual or company. Thus, having no authority to legislate prevents rulers in Islam from taking any undue benefits and exploit people. Moreover, in the Khilafah, it is the responsibility of the Khaleefah to keep an eye on his appointed Walis and continuously check their actions. As for the Khaleefah himself, the Majlis of the Ummah is a check and balance on his actions, being ready to account him for any violations, with a recourse to refer disputes to the Court of the Unjust Acts.

In the Khilafah, the representatives of the Ummah are not divided into treasury and opposition benches. By virtue of being the representative of the Ummah, all the members have the responsibility to keep an eye on the working and to account the Khaleefah, Walis, Amils and the officials of the public departments. This accountability could be on a mistake, the misimplementation of Shara’, an action causing harm to Muslims, any injustice, an act of irresponsibility in taking care of the affairs of the Ummah, or on the abuse of authority by a ruler to gain undue advantage or financial corruption. It is obligatory for the Khaleefah to answer the objections raised, explain his position and submit his arguments, so that the Majlis of the Ummah is satisfied of no misconduct. Every member of the Majlis of the Ummah has the right to express their opinion without any pressure within the limits of Shara’.

Moreover, for the accountability of the rulers, there is a court for the redress of oppression at the judicial level of the state. The judge of this court can register a case pertaining to any action against the Shara’. And in the Khilafah, the rulers cannot legislate to exempt themselves from the judicial liability as happened through Musharraf’s Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment because they do not have the right to legislate.

Islam has strict laws for the accountability of the rulers. If the ruler’s assets are more than his sources of income, then this proof is enough for the confiscation and for this misappropriation no additional proof is required. Umar bin al-Khattab (ra) used to calculate the wealth before and after designating a person to the position of a Wali. If any of his Walis was found to have excess, then either he used to confiscate the additional wealth or he used to distribute it among the people or deposit it in the Bait-ul-Mal. Abdur Rahman bin Abdullah Abu Qasim al-Misri mentioned in his book "Opening of Egypt and Morocco" that Ameer ul-Mummineen, Umar (ra), sent Muhammad bin Muslimah to Amr bin al-'Aas and wrote, "I have sent Muhammad bin Muslimah al-Ansari to you to distribute the wealth that is in excess to your resources, so submit your wealth- may peace and blessings of Allah be upon you." Then Amr bin al-'Aas presented his wealth which Muhammad bin Muslimah distributed and returned.

This is in stark contrast to Democracy, where laws have been made in such a way that corruption is very difficult to prove. Politicians openly do corruption and shamelessly say, without any fear, that if you think that I have done any corruption, then prove it in the court.

It is essential to understand that in Islam the honesty and purity of the system is not left on the personal piety and morality of the rulers, as some people think. Such people claim that if you bring good people to a system, then they can also deliver good results within Democracy. This thinking is indeed based on the superficial understanding of the Islamic ideology. The Khilafah is the ruling system of Islam which has its unique structure, distinct from democracy which is the ruling system of Capitalism.

Islam has defined and set laws for prayers, fasting, zakat, Hajj and jihad. It has specified commands and prohibition regarding marriage, trade and inheritance. All commands, prohibitions and rulings are derived from the Quran and Sunnah. Similarly, Islam has also specified and determined the systems of the state regarding its shape and structure, its institutions, source and details of the authority of the rulers, rules regarding the dismissal of rulers, types of revenue, types of courts and so on. All this is also part of Islam, which is truly a complete way of life, and so they are also taken from the Qur'an and Sunnah. It is not permissible for the Muslims to copy Democracy in the formation of the ruling system of the state and restrict the role of Islam in governance to changes in some constitutional provisions of Democracy and on the election of good and honest people. Doing so would only be a mixture of Islam and Kufr. Islam is a complete way of life(ideology) with respect to all aspects and in the Islamic state, the state structure must be taken from the Shari commands only