FAROOQ HAMEED KHAN The Supreme Court's detailed judgement on NRO is round the corner. The decision, undoubtedly, will remain as per the 'short' and clear December 16 'order'. However, the real challenge for the SC remains in ensuring that its verdict is implemented in letter and in spirit. The SC directives in the short order have not been accorded due priority. Additional accountability courts are still not on ground .Why has the government delayed the appointment of the new NAB hierarchy including its chairman, prosecutor general and the deputy prosecutor general? Given the present leadership's right to appeal against the SC remarks, yet having lost the confidence and trust of the entire apex court during the NRO proceedings, is there any moral justification to continue in office? If the situation so persists with delay in the reopening of the Swiss cases and writ of the SC belittled, then the government's confrontation with the judiciary cannot be ruled out. In addition, how would the army react if the SC were to request for the army's help under Article190 of the constitution? Hopefully, that extreme is never reached and the court's decisions are respected. The NAB's role will be crucial towards the just and fair implementation of the SC directives. However there remain many doubts about its role in the prevailing situation. With NAB under tight government control, the accountability process, in general, and follow-up of NRO cases, in particular, cannot be expected to be fair and transparent. How can NAB's prosecutors, appointed in early 2009 with known political affiliations and lacking anti-corruption expertise prosecute their party high-ups, both in and out of power? Is the fate of NRO cases already written on the wall? The SC's monitoring cell needs to devise a strategy to take care of the abovementioned variables and ensure fairplay. It may also review all non-NRO corruption cases that were closed by NAB in 2008/09. If the cases against the NRO beneficiaries stand restored, then the cases of many other co-accused (not falling under the NRO) who had obtained acquittals also need to be reopened. All eyes remain on the court's progress in the mega loans write off case. Loans worth I93 billion rupees were written off in the period 1997-2009 with the SC reportedly seeking similar details since 1971. Expecting the State Bank or Public Accounts Committee to recover the looted billions from industrial barons, feudal lords and political bigwigs will be asking for the impossible. The SC needs to set up a Judicial Commission for the recovery of these waived off loans. The prevailing public mood calls to debar the wilful loan defaulters and those with cash assets stashed abroad, from contesting elections or holding public office in future? But the team of young and committed NAB Punjab investigators, following the SC's instructions are well on track to recover the Bank of Punjab's (BOP) nine billion rupees from the fraudsters. All the accused, less the Bank's ex-president are behind bars, having handed over their ill-gotten assets to NAB/ BOP. Whether the SC/NAB are equally successful in recovering the hefty 'bribes' from the prominent lawyers as allegedly paid by the principal BOP accused, remains to be seen. Public sector organisations continue to deteriorate through financial and administrative mismanagement under the incompetent leadership and corruption mafia. The Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) that were deprived of 22 billion rupees in 2008/09 through power abuse and embezzlements by its former head and accomplices, gets a hearty 10 billion rupees state bailout, with more likely to follow. The PSM vultures are guaranteed many more delicious meals. If the SC, already seized with the PSM case, were to apply the BOP success model, the accountability of the PSM plunderers including the seizure of their assets would ensure the recovery of the lost national wealth. Next, failing to meet the fuel demands of the energy producers, the cash strapped Pakistan State Oil, once the country's corporate governance model and leading profit-making machine, now victim of PSM style corruption and the circular debt, seems to march merrily to join the exclusive club of the failed state set ups. More seriously, PSO's dismal state with its likely impact on our strategic fuel reserves maybe sounding alarm bells for the armed forces. The Railways is being derailed through criminal neglect of its income generating assets. With 80 out of 120 locomotive engines and 30 trains off the track, the emphasis seems more on buying new Chinese engines/rolling stock, rather than restoring those out of order. Recently, the Parliamentary Committee recommended a stimulus package that may well serve to quench the thirst of the corruption warlords. With the Railways losses soaring to around 65 billion rupees, there exists no strategy to stem the rot. So when critical national organisations are presented to cronies and crooks in a platter, the above results are least surprising. The jiyala syndrome seems to be taking a heavy toll of the state institutions. Does it require much of a vision to appoint competent technocrats/administrators of integrity to turnaround these set ups into disciplined and profitable enterprises? The mindset tells it all. When a minister shamelessly defended his "right to corruption" on a private television channel few weeks ago, the worthy PM should have sacked him that very day. But that did not happen. And then when the PM handed over the Law Ministry and hence NAB to a potential NAB accused, it was yet another sad day. It pains to witness the systematic plunder and failure of our vital national assets. The nation can only cry, Khuda kay liye...... The writer is a retired brigadier Email: fhkhan54@gmail.com