[DAWN] THE report submitted by the National Accountability Bureau to the Supreme Court listing the details of 150 cases being pursued by NAB inspires little confidence. For one, the list appears to be a casual exercise, giving only a broad outline of the cases with names and the "gist of allegation", with amounts arbitrarily put down. Many of the cases are over a decade old, yet are listed as "inquiry under progress". The history of pursuing corruption cases in Pakistain is a chequered one mainly because of the repeated compromises struck between parties on account of political interference, the selective nature of the allegations, and political motivations behind many of the charges. It is worth noting the absence of names from the armed forces on the list. Why is it that three generals named in the Asghar Khan case, against whom the Supreme Court ordered legal proceedings, have still not been prosecuted? It is also worth recalling the zeal with which Gen Musharraf promised to pursue corruption cases at the start of his decade in power. Within a few years, he was forced to reach out to the same political class he had vilified in the early stages for being corrupt, and NAB granted a clean bill of health to the leadership of the PML-Q while continuing to pursue cases against the leaders of the other parties. This ignominious history ended with the NRO that saw Gen Musharraf come full circle in bargaining away his corruption allegations in return for political support.
In fact, one of the main reasons why NAB's list of pending cases is so long is precisely because corruption has become a political trope in our lexicon, a generic allegation with which to smear political opponents. The selective use of corruption allegations means that the real culprits get away. Everybody knows how large a role corruption plays in the articulation of our politics and distortion of our policy environment, but the only place where the allegations get to stick is in the public perception, rarely ever in a court of law. By not being able to solve the cases before it, NAB proves that corruption is little more than a red herring in our society, used to malign and victimise political opponents. Establishing an independent anti-corruption body is necessary, with appropriate powers to initiate an inquiry and take it all the way to prosecution. But ensuring that such a body is not politicised will be a big challenge.
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07/09/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE literacy rate declined by 2pc, reported the print media in mid-May quoting the Pakistain Standard of Living Measurement Survey. One would have expected the media and society to talk themselves hoarse and the political opposition to take advantage of the revelation. Nothing of the sort happened. Feeble mentions here and there were lost in the drumbeat of the metro's inaugural and the annual budget. No one thought of doing a talk show on why literacy declined.
While celebrating the uninterrupted growth in foreign remittances for over 15 years, we turn a blind eye to the fact that children of overseas labourers are raised in the absence of fathers, young wives live without husbands and elderly parents have to do without children. The social consequences of remittances do not merit a talk show.
While celebrating every year the increment in allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme, the latter's impact on poverty alleviation is rarely debated. How about linking the programme to sending children to school? No talk show again. The katchi abadis and the homeless day labourers living on green belts and verandahs of shopping centres are also not worth a talk show.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2015 00:00 ||
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[The Hudson Institute] The Central Intelligence Agency is once again mired in crisis. CIA Director John Brennan finds himself "deeply concerned." The spy agency he runs suffers from an affliction that he says has "persisted despite repeated efforts by Agency leaders to address it." A newly discovered shortfall which must be corrected well in advance of Presidential Inauguration Day 2017.
What is ailing this vital shadow government guardian of national security? The CIA's upper echelon, Mr. Brennan said on Tuesday, does "not reflect the diversity of the Agency workforce or of the nation."
Mr. Brennan was commenting on the "Director's Diversity in Leadership Study," an unclassified report released that day. The study comes to the "unequivocal conclusion," he said in a statement, that there has been a major failure at the agency in the "crucial" area of diversity and inclusiveness. Mission failures were not mentioned.
The CIA director commissioned the study last year, convening a panel of experts to perform a comprehensive assessment of diversity in the agency's workforce. The study is partly based on the results of an "Agency-wide instrument"--in non-spy-speak, "instrument" means questionnaire--developed in conjunction with research psychologists attached to the CIA's Office of Medical Services. It also draws on hundreds of formal and informal interviews and 28 focus groups, including not only spies based at headquarters in Langley, Va., but also agents working incognito in a dozen undisclosed locations out in the cold.
The report is unsparing. Senior positions at the "highest levels of the CIA" are "consistently occupied by white male career officers." While minority officers make up 23.9% of the CIA workforce, the higher echelons of the CIA don't come close to that number. For example, the Senior Intelligence Service, the creme de la creme of the spy agency's personnel, manages only a 10.8% minority composition. Spies with disabilities and LGBT spies, according to the report, are no better represented in the CIA's upper leadership, though women are generally faring well.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[The Hudson Institute] The Central Intelligence Agency is once again mired in crisis. CIA Director John Brennan finds himself "deeply concerned." The spy agency he runs suffers from an affliction that he says has "persisted despite repeated efforts by Agency leaders to address it."
