According to Shahid Khaqan Abbassi, former Prime Minister and PML(N) Senior Vice-Presidentm, Maqsood is his relative who receives stolen money from Dubai. Though he is employed by Ramzan Sugar Mills as a chaprhasi (peon) at a salary of Rs 20,000 per month, his remittances in billions cannot be questioned by state authorities. Perhaps he is a 21st century Robin Hood who robs from the rich to distribute amongst the poor while he himself survives on his basic income.
According to the former PM the entire mechanism is kosher, but the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) thinks otherwise. Transfers of this magnitude have to be justified with money trails otherwise it falls into the category of laundering which the Western world is unwilling to digest as it is alleged that it has the potential of being used by terrorists to buy weapons. Today un-accounted finances are linked with terrorism. Such clandestine, questionable transactions cannot be justified. Maqsood and his employers have to be taken to task to satisfy FATF.
Today financial corruption and money laundering are the biggest menaces faced by the country. The common law-based legal system is unable to contain this serious crime against the people of Pakistan.
The legacy of our brand of ‘Robin Hood’ continues. Jinnah’s political party is now being run by the Sharifs of Gawalmandi while Bhutto’s is firmly in control of the Zardaris of Nawabshah. It reminds me of another famous Punjabi saying “Khoti Rahe Borh Thaley” (The She-Ass remained under the tree)
If the former PM admits on air that stolen money coming into the accounts of smallholders should not be a cause of concern for the state, then it clearly indicates a free-for-all scenario. The same person has also admitted to stealing elections in the past but then demands a free and fair contest now that he is out of the corridors of power. Nawaz Sharif the three-times PM faked his platelets results to avoid a prison term and proceed abroad for treatment. He resides in the expensive London homes of his sons whose source and money trail he has not been able to provide. According to the family, the money was gifted by the grandfather to his teenage grandsons to buy property. How it was transferred remains a mystery. It is alleged that it was kickbacks received from the construction of the 375-km M-2 Motorway that connects Lahore with Islamabad. According to the House of Sharifs It was purely a family transaction from the old man to his second-generation teens who decided to reside abroad; the PM had no say in it, he only awarded the Motorway contract to a Korean company in the best national interest.
In the 1960s the Sharifs got a big break when they managed to get two industrial plots in the Kot Lakhpat area. Mian Sharif together with his six brothers formed the Ittefaq Group. On one of the plots Ittefaq Foundry was built while on the other seven mansions were constructed after getting an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Dulux Paints factory next door. In 1985 when Nawaz Sharif managed to enter the corridors of power, the Sharif Group emerged, leaving the brothers behind.
Robin Hood was a legendary heroic outlaw who operated in the Sherwood forest around the 14th century. He robbed the rich and defied the corrupt officials to serve the poor citizens. His defiance was symbolic, he remained outside the reach of law. I am not sure who is being served in the land of the pure with this stolen money as the overall state of the land is deplorable. Even basic amenities of life are out of reach of the common man.
It seems our Robin Hood is feeding the rich not the poor as they are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. In reality Maqsood Chaprhasi’ is a conduit to skim the resources of the nation. He is not alone, there is a Papparwala in Karachi whose account has also swelled without his knowledge. To be fair to the legacy of the folk hero Robin Hood, we should adopt new titles for our outlaws like ‘Sharif Good’ and ‘Zardari Stood’.
The Sharifs of Gowalmandi are unique in many ways. They were the first to intermingle business and politics. They started the ‘monkey business’ in the state set-up. There is a famous Punjabi saying; ” anna wanday reorhian murh murh apnay ghar” (The blind man kept distributing sweets to his own household).
Benazir Bhutto resisted this onslaught till the no-confidence motion against her elected government in 1989. Her street-smart husband Asif Zardari came to the rescue. He countered the glitter of gold with his own wealth. While Nawaz moved his voters to Changa Manga, Zardari flew them to Swat. In the end it was Changa Manga versus Swat, Benazir survived but politics did not.
The control of Bhutto’s party remained with his daughter but after her assassination in 2007, Zardari took over. Now like PML (Nawaz) PPP (Zardari) is in the arena with No-confidence Motion 2022 being tabled in the National Assembly against another elected PM. Perhaps the funds are coming from the accounts of the Chaprhasis and Paparwalas who will be deprived of their wealth for no fault of theirs
The legacy of our brand of ‘Robin Hood’ continues. Jinnah’s political party is now being run by the Sharifs of Gawalmandi while Bhutto’s is firmly in control of the Zardaris of Nawabshah. It reminds me of another famous Punjabi saying “Khoti Rahe Borh Thaley” (The She-Ass remained under the tree).
