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Introduction
Had resource-rich Balochistan not been plagued by massive corruption and cronyism, the province would have been the most developed federating unit in the country. After NAB's recent plea bargain with the former finance secretary, it seems that the entrenched corruption, nepotism and bad governance will continue to aggravate the economic depravity, political instability and fragile security of Balochistan.
NAB's Plea Bargain and its Impacts
NAB was widely applauded when it had seized bags of money, bonds and foreign currency worth over Rs730 million from former finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani's Quetta house in May last year. After the indepth investigation, it was found that the corrupt bureaucrat also owned a dozen houses in Karachi worth around Rs2 billion. The finance secretary was accused of embezzling billions of rupees from the funds of the toothless and under-resourced local government of Balochistan.
After NAB's raid, the disillusioned people of Balochistan took a sigh of relief that the accountability bureau would rid their province of gigantic corruption, nepotism and blatant pilfering of natural resources. However, the controversial plea bargain of NAB has flabbergasted them, and now they suspect the seriousness of NAB and the federal government in terms of cleansing the province of corruption and nepotism.
After thorough investigation the Executive Board Meeting (EBM) of NAB estimated Mr. Raisani's corruption figure at Rs40 billion. Out of the blue, now the EBM has accepted the plea bargain of just only Rs2 billions of Mr. Raisani and Sohail Majeed Shah, the contractor and front man of Khalid Lango - former advisor to the chief minister Balochistan. This ill-conceived decision has set an ill-boding precedent in corruption-infested Balochistan. Presumably, the plea bargain will encourage fortune-seeking politicians and bureaucrats to further misappropriate the province's depleting resources rather than curb the menace of mega corruption. In a nutshell, NAB's decision is tantamount to showing the safe door of amassing ill-gotten money to crooked politicians and civil servants so that they continue doling out the resources of Balochistan.
Almost all public departments and institutions of Balochistan are gripped by persuasive corruption and misapplication of development funds. However, NAB has confined its accountability dragnet to the former finance secretary and his accomplices. The question remains: Who will bring to book the rest of corrupt...