Top corrupt politicians of Pakistan

Pakistan’s sixty four year history has witnessed corrupt politicians whose ineffective policies have weakened the institutional stature and resulted in poor governance time to time. These politicians have been nominated as the Prime Minister as well as the President of our country at different times with different ruling tenure.

Starting off with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was the 9^th Prime Minister of Pakistan and ruled from 1973 to 1977.He, was also the fourth President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which was the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan and kept on serving as its chairman until his execution in 1979 on charges of murder.

During his regime he was tested for treason for his country. Besides this, his economic policies result in massive inequalities with wealth being concentrated in the hands of just few big households and few large banks.

The starkest scenario of his corrupt rule was build up when a serious secessionist and rebellious conflict broke in Baluchistan province in 1973, calling for independence from Pakistan. In response, Bhutto ordered Pakistan Armed Forces an armed action, which was subdued by the Pakistan Armed Forces successfully in 1978.

Later on, Bhutto and his party won the parliamentary elections of 1977 but in a successful coup led by General Zia ul Haq under code name Operation Fair Play, Bhutto was deposed from his office.

He was sentenced to death in 1979 for the authorization of the murder of a political opponent in a move that many believe was carried on under the directives of Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia ul Haq.

This did not mark the end of corruption from Bhutto family. His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto was involved in various corrupt acts the foremost being money laundering through Swiss banks. $13.7 million on behalf of BB were frozen by Swiss authorities in banks in 1997 that was allegedly stashed in banks.

Benzair’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari who is currently the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan was also tried on these charges with BB. Against him there had been allegations of purchase of 8000 tractors in a 1997 deal.

Illegal commissions paid by a tractor company in return for agreeing to their deals starkly marks the corruption charge in here. He used to receive a 7.15% commission through their front men.

Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan had serious corruption charges. His only agenda was to make money. For this, he used policies for his personal benefit and expanded his business empire by misusing his authority.

In order to consolidate and attain more power, Sharif attacked every individual and institution he felt could get in the way to challenge his authority.

To get rid of the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah, who was despised by Sharif, the later created divisions among the judges to make life difficult for the Chief Justice.

A group of judges refused to acknowledge Shah as the Chief Justice and things got so bad that a number of junior judges posed hurdles in the way of the Chief Justice in order to make it difficult for him to carry out his duties. Eventually, Sharif ordered his thugs to attack the Supreme Court in order to prevent the Chief Justice from giving a ruling against him.

Moreover, Sharif’s relationship with the press and the media also marks his corrupt doings. In 1999, Najam Sethi, a prominent journalist of Pakistan was arrested by the police on the orders of the Sharif.

It was because Sethi wrote a critical essay against Sharif. Besides picking on a fight with the President, the Judiciary and the already restricted media, Sharif also decided to have a confrontation with the army, the only viable institution left in Pakistan.

Chief of Army Staff, General Jehangir Karamat, and Nawaz Sharif had a conflict over an issue pertaining to the national Security Council and both entered into a heated discussion, after which Gen. Karamat had to offer his resignation.

General Pervez Musharraf is another prominent name in the list of the corrupt politicians of Pakistan. His reign lasted from 1999 to August 2008.

His acts of suspending the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice and Lal Masjid siege tarnished his good repute built earlier due to his war on terror, efforts to develop the economy and providing support to Pakistan war in Afghanistan.

The return of Benzair and Nawaz Sharif from exile marked the way towards the setting in of parliamentary democracy thereby ending Musharraf’s regime.

The above mentioned politicians are ranked as the most notorious figures in Pakistan’s politics with regard to corruption.

There stands an inevitable need for a fair, unbiased leader to step whose transparent and corruption free policies can steer the nation towards that success which its founding fathers had dreamed of but has been never encountered yet.