This article looks a little dated, but a good read about the ways of our great leaders. Whats interesting is where some of the big guns mentioned are now.
http://www.dawn.com/2003/text/op.htm#4
By Hafizur Rahman
Bewalling corruption and its various manifestations in Pakistan is old hat now. Let us give a few moments to legalised corruption; loot in which hands are not knowingly dirtied and the conscience remains clear. You may not agree with this expression but I insist it is there and is practised in this country on a large scale by the privileged gentry. I shall deal with just two ways, both very popular.
Example: by what moral law am I allowed to import an expensive duty free car if I have remained governor or chief minister of a province for a few days, and subject the country’s exchequer to a loss of some 25 to 30 lakhs of rupees, without a blot on my escutcheon as a patriot?
And if I already have a Mercedes or a BMW, as all those do who fall in the category of potential chief ministers and governors, and I don’t actually need this duty free limousine, what are the ethics that permit me to sell it to a billionaire and make a profit far in excess of the 25 to 30 lakhs that I have already saved? The beauty of the entire proceeding is that I have done nothing unlawful. Legalised dishonesty does not bother the conscience.
Mind you, when I was holding that coveted post which entitled me to import a duty-free car, I had numerous other perks and facilities (almost roti, kapra aur makaan) which by themselves cost the state many lakhs of rupees per month, even if I remained honest and didn’t indulge in corruption proper, which would be a miracle any day. Truly there is no end to man’s greed. Apparently the first thing that one does on being appointed CM or governor is to ask for the import of a duty-free car.
Some years ago, as my scrapbook tells me, the federal commerce minister had told the National Assembly how many high-powered cars had been imported by government permission during the period from April 1989 to July 1998. Included among these were the cars allowed to be imported duty-free by prime ministers, presidents, chief ministers and governors, and chiefs of the defence services as personal property. They only paid the price of the cars which of course most of them recovered as part of the huge profit on their sale.
Among the ‘culprits’ were (no, I have no compunction in calling them culprits) were interim prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, and the late Chaudhry Altaf Husain, who, by the way, got two duty-free cars in two terms as Governor of Punjab. Another Punjab governor, General Raja Saroop, later a leading light in the PPP, cost the state nearly a crore in customs duty, while the biggest saving - one and a half crores - fell to the lot of former Balochistan CM Zulfiqar Ali Magsi who imported an Aston Martin. At least he had the taste to have a car of which not more than a dozen owners will be found in Pakistan!
Conspicuous by his absence from this gallery of greed was the late Malik Meraj Khalid who never thought of getting this luxurious gift horse for himself when he was caretaker prime minister for three months after Ms Benazir Bhutto’s dismissal. God bless his noble soul! As for BB herself, she holds the record for buying the most high-powered car ever imported duty-free by any government leader. Counting the one she imported in her first term, she got two cars, and saved 1.6 crores in import duty, or rather caused a loss of Rs 1.6 crores to the state. Of course this was peanuts compared to what she did to the country.