IT is not clear how the task force proposed by the government will be able to tackle the hydra-headed phenomenon that is corruption. Every change of government in Pakistan is succeeded by sombre pledges of a war on graft. This, in turn, is followed by the enactment of new laws and the establishment of new bureaus and commissions. Yet when the government exits it leaves behind a greater mess. Leaving aside the societal factors that are crucial to an understanding of the corruption phenomenon one cannot ignore the lack of sincerity on the part of those promising a cleaner society and government. All governments have used the shibboleth that is ‘accountability’ to persecute the regimes’ opponents. The most brazen use of the sacred word ‘accountability’ was made by the Ziaul Haq regime, which often couched its political aims and the legal means to achieve it in religious terms. However, it used the harsh martial law regulations to persecute its political enemies. The same phenomenon was seen during the Musharraf regime when politicians known for corruption, and with references pending with the accountability bureau, were accommodated in the military-led power set-up.

Announcing the proposal to set up the commission, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said it would comprise officials from the FIA and Intelligence Bureau and it would start working in 15 days. One doubts whether the commission would succeed in purging officialdom of corruption. Do we really need new laws or commissions? The laws are already on the statute books; such law-enforcement agencies as we have and the existing judicial system can cope with the problem if political considerations do not subvert due process. Special accountability courts and the summary military courts, in addition to the judicial pyramid, have failed to make the creaking and ponderous officialdom honest. Some of the most corrupt ones are in the bureaucratic and political establishments, and it is unlikely that a new commission will be able to get them. Accountability should be a continuous process. It doesn’t need new laws and commissions, provided those undertaking the task of accountability are themselves honest and impartial.