Corruption and criminality run from the top down, with the political class constantly looting Pakistan’s banks and dipping their hands into the national treasury. One such example is Benazir Bhutto, who raked in tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and kickbacks during her two stints as prime minister. Another is former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who built a huge industrial empire due to his political influence both before and during his two premierships. Sharif’s position gave him access to easy credit in the form of millions of dollars in loans and development funds, many of which he used for personal purposes and never paid back. Both are currently in exile and have had friends and relatives thrown in jail and their property in Pakistan confiscated.

However, what came to power after these two is much worse. No longer content to be behind-the-scenes, the armed forces staged a coup in October 1999, overtly seizing power and gaining control of the government for the first time since the 1980s. Pakistan’s military, in control of a multi-billion dollar business empire, has more money at its disposal than anything to which either Bhutto or Sharif had access. Furthermore, with much of its budget and finances secret, the military has free reign to do what it pleases with the taxpayers’ money in this abjectly poor country. What evidence has leaked out to the public square indicates that the military is guilty of everything civilian politicians do and more. Even worse, Pakistan’s fractious army and secretive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are guilty of aiding and abetting people guilty of far more egregious crimes: acts of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and narco-trafficking. The most recent example of this is the firestorm caused by A.Q. Khan’s sale of Pakistan’s nuclear technology to rogue nations and the developing cover-up by the military dictatorship.

All of this greed, corruption and criminality have left Pakistan among the poorest nations of the world, undesirable for business, dangerous for its citizens and visitors, and one of the most ominous threats to international peace and security in the world today.