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No short-cuts to corruption-free Pakistan: Musharraf

Andrew Hill in Islamabad

Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, said today that corruption was so entrenched in his country that a war against it might last forever.

''We have to make sure that corruption is totally eradicated from Pakistan. This is a very tall order,'' said Gen Musharraf, who overthrew the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief on October 12 and quickly launched an ''accountability'' drive.

''Accountability must continue forever, maybe,'' said Gen Musharraf, who gave high-level defaulters of close to 5 billion dollars in funds plundered from state banks until November 16 to pay up or face trials, which are due to start shortly.

He said his government stood a chance of bringing the corrupt to justice because it was ''sincere, credible and honest'' and was busy selecting officials of similar qualities to oversee the war on corruption.

''I have the honesty and credibility. The government has changed. We're bold. I'm not scared, I will do it,'' he told Reuters Television in an interview.

Successive Pakistani governments have been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption, embezzlement and theft at the highest level. ''I am afraid it is really terrible that our country cannot produce governments which assure honesty and accountability,'' said Gen Musharraf, without naming any government.

Sharief was sacked once by the then president for alleged corruption and his predecessor Benazir Bhutto was convicted of graft last year but has yet to return to Pakistan to appeal against her conviction or begin a jail term.

Asked how his government would succeed in instilling honest practices among people used to avoiding taxes and profiting from their positions, Gen Musharraf said: ''Being a military man, I know one thing, and that is to motivate people to rise and even to pay the sacrifice of life. We can motivate them.''

He said he hoped politicians of all parties would rally behind his anti-corruption drive and that the tiny elite which had ruled Pakistan for 52 years would see the sense of it and begin to pay taxes instead of avoiding them.

''I am sure with motivation they will contribute and they will not mind spending some more as far as taxation is concerned,'' he said. ''They must realise the criticality of the situation. They should contribute towards bringing about stability in Pakistan and stability means cooperation between all political parties with whatever we are doing,'' he said.

Gen Musharraf, who suspended the National Assembly after the coup and has given no time-frame for a return to democracy, said he expected politicians to unite to fight poverty. ''That is the only way we will cure the economic malaise facing Pakistan. Their role, as I see it, is not the conventional political role of creating dissension and discord in the country. Their role is to cooperate for the economic advancement of Pakistan, for improving the governance of Pakistan, for bringing stability to Pakistan,'' he said.

Gen Musharraf said it was the vast majority of Pakistan's 130 million people, the poor, who had suffered most. ''It is the poor who have been victimised at every level of Pakistan. I would like to alleviate their problems,'' he said.

UNI

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