Nawaz Sharif Jailed in Corruption Case. What Is the Lesson for PM Modi?
No government in India is willing to stop corruption because it has become the lifeblood of Indian bureaucrats and politicians. Click here to read more.
By Rakesh Raman
Former Pakistan Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam – who have been jailed in a corruption case – spent their first night in the high-security Adiala Jail on Friday in Rawalpindi.
Sharif, 68, and Maryam, 44, were arrested Friday after their conviction in the case about four luxury flats in London. They were nabbed shortly after their arrival at Lahore airport from London.
Sharif has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10.6 million on corruption charges. A Pakistani court ordered the sentence a week ago, serving a major blow to his party Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) days ahead of the general elections scheduled for July 25.
Last year, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court had disqualified him over corruption allegations against his family members, Sharif had resigned from his post.
Sharif’s disqualification was ordered when an investigation following the 2015 Panama Papers leak found that his children have stashed away corruption money in offshore companies.
The National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan’s anti-corruption court, also has convicted Sharif’s daughter Maryam to seven-year and his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar to one-year imprisonment.
Sharif and his accused family members have been given 10 days to file their appeals in the court.
Corruption in Modi Govt
Meanwhile, the level of corruption has increased manifold in India during the past 4 years. Besides unchecked bureaucratic and political corruption, India’s PM Narendra Modi himself is also facing serious corruption charges.
Opposition parties in India are up in arms against the government, as they are demanding a thorough inquiry into the alleged corruption deals of Modi.
Although no inquiry against the political bosses in India can reveal the truth, opposition parties including Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) have demanded thorough investigation in the case.
An Indian lawyer, activist, and politician – Prashant Bhushan – who has revealed information about Modi’s own corruption said that even the Supreme Court of India is not working freely and has refused to take appropriate action against Modi.
In fact, Modi is not the only politician in his political group Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who is facing corruption charges. Among the BJP leaders and Modi’s friends who are facing serious corruption allegations include:
- BJP President Amit Shah,
- Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,
- Rajasthan Chief Minsiter Vasundhara Raje,
- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and
- Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
The other cases of corruption include mining scam, Goa housing loan scam, MP admission scam, fake currency scam, LED bulbs scam, and others.
But the Modi government did not hold any proper inquiry in all these cases and these politicians are having a ball with public money. Obviously, if thieves are the rulers, who will catch and punish them?
Corruption in Delhi
Today, millions of common residents in Delhi are victims of the terror unleashed by the corrupt managing committee (MC) members of different cooperative group housing societies.
In order to help the suffering residents raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies, I have been running a community-driven free online social service under the banner “Clean House”.
It works as an interface to inform the government departments and law-enforcement agencies in India and abroad about the cases of corruption and other criminal activities happening in housing societies.
If you want “Clean House” to report about the corruption and illegal activities in your housing society, you may please contact me with relevant documents and details.
Click here to visit Clean House.
During the past four years of Modi’s rule, the country has gone back by almost 40 years while political and bureaucratic corruption has become pain in the neck for commoners in India.
As most Indian journalists are corrupt, Indian media is under the tight control of Modi government. That’s why most corruption cases do not get reported. If they get reported, government ignores them and makes false claims that no corruption is happening under the Modi government. The truth, however, is that corruption is happening at every step in the current government.
A new study reveals that corruption has increased considerably under the Modi government. CMS-India Corruption Study (CMS-ICS) 2018 claims that it has covered both rural and urban locations of 13 states and 11 public services.
According to the study, 75 percent households have the perception that the level of corruption in public services has either increased or remained same during the past 12 months.
Similarly, the global anti-corruption organization Transparency International has lowered India’s rank from last year’s position of 79 to 81 this year. According to the Transparency data, India with a poor score of 40 is more corrupt than countries such as China, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Mauritius.
As corruption has been increasing exponentially under Modi government, the Supreme Court of India has asked the government to appoint Lokpal, the top anti-corruption ombudsman in India.
Now what should Modi do? It is expected that Modi will take a lesson from Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and resign from his post without waiting for the court’s order against his own and his party’s corruption.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
