Pakistan: Time for the United States to Choose

Two recent Supreme Court decisions in Pakistan should serve as a red flag to our government about what the people running that country are up to.

The first ruling involved a government decision to award a contract to a French company to provide liquid natural gas to Pakistan. The company came into the bidding process late and reportedly quoted a fee $1 billion higher than that of another qualified bidder.

In the dock for a deal it couldn’t explain, the government pulled the contract.

The issue was pretty shocking. While Pakistan’s government was claiming it needed American money desperately to survive, it was apparently attempting to overpay by a billion dollars on a questionable business deal.

In disposing of the case, the Court pointed out that: “In view of illegalities, irregularities, omissions and commissions, noted in instant case, we are constrained to make observation that the officers/functionaries responsible for the same are required to be dealt with in accordance with law and we hope that Chief Executive/Prime Minister of Pakistan shall probe into the matter accordingly.”

The notion of Pakistan’s government disciplining anyone involved is a pipe dream. Decisionmakers in Pakistan are all cronies of President and ruling Pakistan People’s Party boss Asif Ali Zardari. When anyone other than the government tries to bring his cronies to book, the government resists or Zardari issues presidential pardons.

The issue of political connections was raised in the second case.

The prime minister had promoted 54 civil servants with no apparent merit or seniority basis for the promotions. Those promoted simply had friends in high places.

The Supreme Court invalidated the promotions, finding that they had been made “in complete disregard of the law.”
 
Most ministries were already swimming in red ink when the PPP came to power due to mismanagement by Pervez Musharraf’s minions. The rampant corruption and cronyism of the present administration has turned adversity into disaster for the people of Pakistan.

Right now, virtually nothing works, because of corruption and mismanagement. For example, constant power outages have made life an ordeal for Pakistani citizens and have brought some Pakistani industries to the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile, many in construction are finding it virtually impossible to do business because of  corruption. “Everywhere you turn a bribe is demanded,” one source told me. If you want to build anything in Pakistan, you have to go through the bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy will go through your pockets.

Things have not been bad for everyone though. Those with the right connections are thriving.

For example, President Zardari put two of his sisters in the National Assembly. According to their legally required declaration of assets, one has seen her net worth nearly triple and the other has seen a fifteen fold increase in her personal wealth — in one year.

Meanwhile, public land has reportedly been sold to those with political connections at throwaway prices.

It is impossible right now for the United States or any other country to effectively help Pakistan. There is simply too much corruption for aid to achieve its intended purposes.

Fortunately, for the first time in its history, Pakistan has a Supreme Court with the will to perform its constitutional role as a check on government excess. As Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed pointed out recently: “Once it is accepted that the Constitution is the supreme law of the country, no room is left to allow any authority to make departure from any of its provisions or the law and the rules made thereunder.”

The Pakistan People’s Party is fighting accountability tooth and claw. Recently, PPP activists in the United States launched what they claim is a nonpartisan organization and hired a well-connected Washington lobbyist to press its case against the judiciary in the press and in Congress. The group even has its own website, which seems to devote about half of its space to glorifying the current government and about half to disparaging the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice.

The U.S. government should not be fooled by predictable PPP cries of political victimization. The people of Pakistan are being victimized by their government, and this is why the judiciary has been forced to assert itself. Our government should make it clear that the Zardari government will find no backing, or even sympathy, for attacks on Pakistan’s judiciary.

The Supreme Court is trying to keep Pakistan, a nuclear power, from collapsing under the weight of government lawlessness. Our government has a choice. It can cynically give carte blanche to officials flouting the law, as it did with Musharraf, for a few possible short-term benefits. Or, it can stand with the forces of law that are attempting to keep Pakistan from becoming a failed state.

 Houlahan is a former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He served as an election monitor during the 2008 elections in Pakistan. He can be reached at TGHatCSS@gmail.com.