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Sir,
One of the teasers posed in any of our popular TV quiz programmes can well be:
Is there something common amongst the following three leaders and if so what is it--General Pervez Musharraf, Chief Executive of Pakistan; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India? Well, there is. All the three have sworn that they will wipe out corruption of all hues, political, bureaucratic and whatever else, off the face of their respective countries. While wishing them good luck and godspeed in their gargantuan task it will be interesting to take stock of some of the underlying differences in approaches.

In Pakistan, endemic corruption on a large scale is now being exposed,starting with the deposed Prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members. To General Musharraf's credit it can be said that his stick and no carrot policy has yielded rich dividends even within the first one month of its operation to the extent of 8.4 billion rupees returned by defaulting businessmen to bankers who had loaned the money to them a long, long time ago. However, in their naivete, the Pakistani masses have been led to believe that graft, nepotism, favouritism and such wrongdoings belong entirely to the domain of the civilian administration and the powerful armed forces are completely free from this malady. That the rich in Pakistan have already transferred most of their money out of the country to Swiss banks and the like is yet another problem being faced by the General. The cleansing process in Pakistan is carried out entirely by executive fiat since legislative back-up is totally irrelevant at this time.

In Nigeria we witness a drama which is the very antithesis of what is happening in Pakistan. President Olusegun Obasanjo, the first civilian elected democratically to the high office in the last 16 years is tackling the deep-rooted 'culture of corruption that permeated all levels of Nigerian society' (as reported in New York Times, 23 November). Here the villain of the piece is the former military ruler, General Sani Obacha (resemblance to the planet, Saturn is entirely coincidental) who stashed away two billion dollars in Swiss banks. Hundreds of other military officials are under investigation. While 'Obasanjo has received strong support throughout the ethnically and religiously divided country' he will 'have a very difficult time because the people he is going after have enormous resources that they will use against him' (NY Times). Obasanjo's efforts have been crowned with success till now mainly because of public support since strong-arm methods which the military enjoyed earlier are not open to him.

India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has made the categorical affirmation ( IE, November, 21) that his government will have zero tolerance towards corruption (and terrorism too). Unlike the leaders of the other two countries, he has to rely largely on the due processes of law in addition to public support. There are enough laws in the country to catch the wrongdoers and punish them. If more such laws are reqired to add strength to the elbow of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, these have to be legislated quickly. So long as the Prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues have the will to act, they will surely get the kind of public support they need and outdo Pakistan and Nigeria in the 'deep-cleansing' process.

India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has made the categorical affirmation ( IE, November, 21) that his government will have zero tolerance towards corruption (and terrorism too). Unlike the leaders of the other two countries, he has to rely largely on the due processes of law in addition to public support. There are enough laws in the country to catch the wrongdoers and punish them. If more such laws are reqired to add strength to the elbow of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, these have to be legislated quickly. So long as the Prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues have the will to act, they will surely get the kind of public support they need and outdo Pakistan and Nigeria in the 'deep-cleansing' process.

Yours truly,

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy