Corrupt Politician or a Corrupt Technocrat Who is the real culprit?
In a recent episode of Bolta Pakistan , Nusrat Javed and Mushtaq Minhas discussed — albeit in passing remarks – Atta-ur-Rahman , the chairman HEC , who is enjoying the perks of Federal Minister since October 1999. This caused some debate on pkpolitics.com about the Atta-Ur-Rahman’s achievments and failures. And then there was news about the 5-year ban on Shoaib Akhtar imposed due to the personal vengeance and vendetta by one person Naseem Ashraf who is self-imposed dictator on Pakistan cricket.
I spent 8 years in Pakistan as a professional in high-tech industry and happened to work in Islamabad and unluckily I had to work with some of these so-called self-proclaimed technocrats. If someone asks me about the most unfortunate thing about our country I would say that the most corrupt people in our country are not the politicians but the ones who ought to be the most honest people i.e. the philanthropists, technocrats and the educationists. And not only that such people actually get away with all the wrong doings and corruption without any accountability.
We usually use the word ”corrupt” in very limited meanings and perhaps we also take the financial corruption as the worst form of the corruption , whereas professional/ethical corruption is in my humble opinion the worst form of corruption. A person who does not have professional ethics is bound to be financially corrupt too.
Until and unless we hate the professionally corrupt people as much as we hate a financially corrupt politicians , we are not going to make a lot of improvements in our system. Let me take here an example of two well-known personalities of the Musharraf’s regime and do a comparison of them and show how much damage a professionally corrupt technocrat can do to the nations whereas a “corrupt” politician will seem absolutely innocent when compared.
Corrupt Technocrat
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman , according to his own description on HEC website:
“Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman has had an outstanding career as an academic and is one of the leading scientists in Pakistan. Having completed his MSc in Organic Chemistry from the University of Karachi in 1964, and obtained his PhD from Cambridge University in 1968, where he later had the rare distinction of being appointed as Don at Kings College, Cambridge (1969-1973). He is also the only scientist from the Pakistan, other than the late Prof. Abdul Salam (Nobel Laureate), who has been awarded the prestigious degree of Doctor of Science (ScD) by Cambridge University.”
Reading his profile anybody would expect that a person with such “an outstanding career” should not need to do any corruption as he can easily earn his bread in an honourable way. However that is where our misfortune starts. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman was the first person in dictator’s cabinet and he has been the sole director of Pakistan’s Higher Education for the last 8 years. In these 8 years the budget of higher education in Pakistan raised 12 folds a world record. Here is the article from Pervez Hoodbhoy ”Reforms! What Reforms” , that explains how Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman squandered with that money. Not only that in the senate Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman’s frequent tours to US and Europe on public expense have been quoted several times.
Such people are usually not answerable to anyone they usually avoid direct questions from media. In the episode of Bolta Pakistan , the hosts tried hard to get in touch with Dr. Atta-Ur-Rahman however he refused to speak to them. And then later on sent a fax from his subordinate desk and asked them to contact his assistants.
These people feed stories to the media about their false achievements, create myths and keep the lifafah journalism alive. They survive on other peoples work and create a cult around them. I clearly remember how the fortunes of CIIT (Dr. Junaid Zaidi) changed overnight on 12th of October 1999 when the dictator Musharraf overthrew the government. Junaid Zaidi being part of the same cult.
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman has always refused an independent audit of the HEC funds and have never answered in any public forum. Even the laws were drafted in a way to make him answerable only to the president. Just like Naseem Ashraf is solely responsible for the demise of Pakistani cricket , Atta-ur-Rahman is responsible for squandering the golden opportunity for doing something for higher education in Pakistan.
Corrupt Politician
On the other hand let us take the example of a typical politician in dictator’s government. Mr. Wasi Zafar was the law minister in Musharraf’s regime , he made headlines during the judicial crisis in March 2007. Wasi Zafar was- as considered by many- the most incompetant law minister. In his own words he is not a learned person, he is just a politician. He is also famous for his high-handedness. But let us see how these two personality compare.
1. Mr. Wasi Zafar is a straight talking and simple minded personality. He does not try to hide his short comings and does not feel any qualms about accepting his mistakes. On the other hand Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman is a cunning , shrewd (in negative sense of the word) , and will usually try to feed wrong stories about his achievments and will do all the possible efforts to hide his mistakes sometimes criminally.
2. Despite being rediculed and thrashed , Mr. Wasi Zafar would always be available to media for the questions most of the time very harsh. On the other hand Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman will always shy away from media , and will never answer the difficult questions.
3. Mr. Wasi Zafar will have to face the Parliament for the questions and will also have to be answerable to his boss i.e. the dictator. Whereas Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman despite enjoying all the perks and benefits of the minister will never be answerable to Parliament and in fact anybody as the dictator needs him more than he needs dictator.
4. Mr. Wasi Zafar sooner rather than later will have to face the public in election, and usually will loose in the next free and fair election (in fact he lost in 2008 elections), and then it will be over. Whereas Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman will not be accountable on any forum and will try to stick to his job as long as possible.
5. Mr. Wasi Zafar may have to face the wrath of next government , specially if the next government tries to be ruthless. Wasi Zafars of this world will go through the ordeal of NAB and accountability and may have to spend time in jail, sometimes they may have to pay back the money they looted. However nothing of this will happen to Atta-ur-Rahman’s of this world.
6. Last but not the least Atta-ur-Rahman would still be able to sell himself as a technocrat and an educationist.
Conclusion
I have always said that we need to identify the real cause of our misfortunes , we need to see why our country has suffered so much and who are the responsible people for these sufferings. One of the real litmus test for the ethics and morality of a professional is to see how his peers view him. And how much he gives importance to moral values and professional ethics. The so-called technocrat who enjoys the privileges in dictator’s regime are the first to sell their profession. Such people should be condemned and hated by the nation. Unfortunately there is a long list of such crooks in our country.
so true what you wrote
” These people feed stories to the media about their false achievements, create myths and keep the lifafah journalism alive. They survive on other peoples work and create a cult around them. ”
to add to their such qualities: they also believe in corruption (Financial) by creating a whole system exposed to everyone apparently in a legitimate manner with biggest pie for themselves. Two examples include the way the made money from VU and CIIT!
Ahmed bhai
April 3, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Very much true. Much of the filth and evil in society is by the educated and not the UN-EDUCATED. This doesnt mean we need un-educated but it means whoever is learning or whoever is teaching is NOT doing it properly.
Thanks to the dictator education has completely gone to DOGs in pakistan. People like Dr. be made accountable for their wrong doings
MB
April 3, 2008 at 7:40 pm
However, I dont think that comparing the doc with idiot Wasi Zafar is a fair thing to do. These guys belong to different classes of homo-sapiens. Moreover, it would be really enlightening if you could elucidate your accusations on the doc with the aid of solid examples/proofs; after all HEC did function better than before. So lets try to do an informal audit of this institution on a public forum?
Regards,
AR
AR
April 17, 2008 at 7:15 pm
@AR
I agree with you comparison of Wasi Zafar with Ata-ur-Rahman is not fair. Wasi Zafar is such a simple-minded , honest soul
But you missed the main point of the article, it is not about Ata-ur-Rahman, he is used as an example only. It is about all the people like Ata-ur-Rahman who are unfortunately too many in our beloved country, Naseem Ashraf, Ashfaq Hassan, Salman Shah , Hameed Dogar + dozens of Judges , Ansar Burney, the list is not exhastive.
I hope you get the point.
pejamistri
April 17, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Sadly, Pakistani people do not deserve a person like Dr. Atta, they are happy with Amina Doltana. No coments,
Deen
May 29, 2008 at 9:37 pm
@Deen
Sadly Pakistan is always cursed by people like Dr. Atta , Pakistanis are not that bad to have such curses.
pejamistri
May 30, 2008 at 6:38 am
You have mentioned about Junaid Zaidi, i my self is a student of Comsats Islamabad Campus! I was wondring way they hung the portrait of Atta-ur-Rehman amongst Newton, Einstine etcetra!
Now i came to know that Zaidi and Atta both are partnes in crime!
After all Zaidi had to keep his boss Atta happy!
Tony Montana
June 11, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Seems as vague as the ‘he said, she said’ that pervaiz hoobhoy rants about. if you are going to point a finger so violently, then where are thr facts? This makes your entry as vile as your claim that Dr Rehman is corrupt. Provide evidence rather than hearsay, and let’s have another read of this entry.
pakistani buggy
August 15, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Hi,
You are absolutely right these people like Dr Junaid Zaidi (rector ciit) and Dr Ata ur Rehman has done lots of abuse of power ,corruption and nepotism.Junaid Zaidi has inducted his relatives in CIIT and tried to oblige each and every bureaucrat/politician in musharraf tenure to keep his posting confirmed.
His modus operandi in connivance with Dr Ata is to open political campuses in some constituency of a minister like attock,sahiwal now vihari etc and then in the name of these ministers he tries to mint public funds for his own misuse.E.g Managed to send his son on HEC PhD scholarship after inducting him in CIIT, his relatives ,class fellows and cronies like tahir naeem work in several campuses of CIIT, mishandled scholarship scheme and kept happy people in important positions by acting like a prostitute just to make a fortune.Strange that people likethem are still holding same position despite being well known musharraf and shaukat aziz spoons.
adeel qureshi
September 2, 2008 at 2:12 am
pakistan bugyy,
some of the facts are
1. Dr Ata is from attock and managed to open and fund CIIT campus there when there is no faculty or student there coz it was in lime light constiuency (PM and chaudary’s bros relatives had election constituencies)
2. Dr Zaidi is a blue eyed rector of Dr Ata CIIT got and misused majority of funds during their tenures than other universities.
Abuse of power is evident from the fact that talented and honest people were forced to leave ciit or hec and as result nobody even them can not reach to the status of IIT’S in india. If DR ata had some moral courage they should have returned medals like renowned poet Ahmed Faraz and other democratic people did.
3.Dr Zaidi brother in law syed farooq is managing scholarship funds, his class fellows are head/directors of other campuses and his friends childred are working in various departments and is openly known….. all happening under dr ata’s nose.
4. If one can vilify Dr Qadeer why cant these sacred cows can not be in this country………..coz these prostitues have tried to win over new bosses in goverment
adeel qureshi
September 2, 2008 at 2:31 am
FIVE REGIONAL CITIES OF PAKISTAN should be upgraded with in the provinces in the country. Regional cities of Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, Gawadar/ Qalat in Balouchistan, Sukkar/ Larkana in Upper Sind, Jehlam/ Rawalpindi and Multan in Punjab province. These regional cities have been ignored by the federal and provincial governments although these cities have their own history, culture and languages.Dera Ismail Khan in south of Pakhtun khwa/MWFP is under seige, Multan/DG Khan in south of Punjab is next target of religious extremists,Sukkar/ Larkana is being rule by criminals, Gawadar/ Qalat is trouble some. The people of these regions have to travel to provincial capitals for every small issue and requirement of the daily life which should be provided in nearby cities. A good number of population travel to big cities for their survival to earn livelihood as the local feudal own majority land and keep the common man as their slaves. Creation of regional government and upgrading of the regional cities will save a lot of money and time of the poor people of these regions. Circuit benches of the High Courts are already working in these areas and only requirement is the additional staff of different departments involved in additional work at the provincial capitals. The concern authorities should immediately consider to upgrade the regional cities. And immediate attention should be given upgrade/build the airports,TV station, civic center, libraries,hospitals, educational institutes and investment opportunities for Pakistanis living abroad and foreign firms to create jobs in the area as majority population in rural Pakistan do not have enough resources to survive. It’s remind me the condition of pre Islamic revolution of Iran in Shah time when the rural Iran was ignored and the capital Tehran was developed in a way to call it Paris of Middle East with modern life style. Couple of other big cities like Isfahan and Caspian sea was taken care of because of foreign tourists but rural area was ruled by cruel police and intelligence. Then what happen rural population supported the Islamic revolution and moved to Tehran and other big cities later on. The new government after revolution developed, built and upgraded the rural areas of Iran accordingly. A fund to upgrade/build these regional cities in Pakistan should be intoduced by public and private sector and Pakistani government, our foreign friends and Pakistanis living abroad may be asked to participate in this development mission in the country..KHWAJA AFTAB ALI,( former secretary, Iranian embassy, Saudi Arabia,1979-88) Advocate High Court & I.P. Attorney-first & the only Pakistani lawyer who earned Intellectual Property laws scholarship in USA,presently residing in Florida, USA. all_languages@hotmail.com
KHWAJA AFTAB ALI, Florida, USA
August 5, 2009 at 9:22 am