Pakistani Peacekeepers Accused With Corruption

Nitin has written an interesting post about the “unprofessional” behavior of Pakistani troops serving in a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Congo. Their purported crimes include gold smuggling and selling arms to rebel groups, the same groups U.N. peacekeepers are tasked to disarm.

The Pakistani military always took pride in its inscrutable professionalism, but these allegations prove there are cracks in the armor. If anything, it shows a precipitous decline in discipline not only among the rank-and-file, but the officer corps as well.

It is no coincidence that this happening while Pakistan is under the control of the army, whose head, President Pervez Musharraf, also dons the uniform. With no legislative or judicial oversight whatsoever, the military is accountable to no one but itself. It is a recipe for corruption. The events in the Congo are just one of the manifestations of this rot known as military rule.