Musharraf, Imran least bothered about court processes

ISLAMABAD: Former dictator Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, who are faced with perpetual arrest warrants issued by different courts, have aggressively adopted a similar strategy not to be part of any judicial proceedings against them, writes Tariq Butt.

No government agency is even slightly interested in implementing these judicial orders, which were made long time ago. Even when Musharraf was in Pakistan, he was never inclined to obey the court directions. Similarly, the arrest warrants for Imran Khan have also never been implemented although he has been in Pakistan.

On the other hand, the court processes including the bail-able arrest warrants ordered by the Islamabad accountability court against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar are being enforced with a remarkable pace and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and others are demonstrating extraordinary exuberance and excitement.

Both Imran Khan and Musharraf have been repeatedly declared proclaimed offenders by various courts for not showing up before them. The former dictator is even nominated in the murder of Benazir Bhutto. Due to his absence, the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), while handing down its judgment in the case, postponed its decision against him.

In his appeal filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the ATC verdict, former President Asif Ali Zardari has demanded death penalty to Musharraf as well as other accused named in it.

At present, there are at least six cases going on against Imran Khan and are at different stages in various judicial forums, but he has not turned up even once.

Not only has he stayed away from these hearings, he has also categorically announced that he will not attend the proceedings in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which, in his opinion, has no authority to proceed against him.

Among these litigations, there are two defamation suits in Lahore and Rawalpindi courts; there is one criminal case in an Islamabad court about the torture on Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asmatullah Junejo during the 2014 sit-in; and there is another case in the Supreme Court.

However, in contrast Imran Khan had attended every hearing of the Panama case against the Sharif family, which continued for several months in the apex court. He also used to speak about the proceedings taking on his rivals every day.

Every judicial forum is repeatedly issuing summons for Imran Khan’s appearance, but this has not changed his mind to bow before the judicial process. Because of his absence, most cases are not going ahead, and resultantly the process is going on at a snail’s pace.

One defamation suit was filed by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, claiming damages from the PTI chairman for accusing him of offering Rs10 billion bribe to him through a common friend to remain silent on the Panama case. Imran Khan had leveled this charge when this Panama case had almost been concluded.

After hurling the accusation, the PTI chairman had dared Shahbaz Sharif to file the libel suit so that he could reveal the details of the offer made to him, exposing the real faces. He had said that the chief minister would face embarrassment, and that he was not disclosing the name of the businessman, who offered the bribe on Sharifs’ behalf to save him from their victimization.

A Rs1 billion libel suit was filed by PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi in a Rawalpindi court back in December 2014 for accusing him of dealing in drugs and fake medicines. A year later, the subordinate court fined Imran Khan’s lawyer for the delayed submission of a reply to its notice. Now, the case is fixed for hearing on September 25.

The Islamabad court that is hearing the case of torture on the SSP has declared Imran Khan as a proclaimed offender after repeatedly summoning him. It has reprimanded police for not arresting the PTI chief and producing him before it despite several orders.

Although the foreign funding case is going on in the ECP for the past three years, Imran Khan has not appeared before it even once. While staying away from the ECP, he has repeatedly attacked the electoral body. After becoming much irritated by his defiance, the ECP took note of one of his objectionable statements and issued a show cause for contempt, but the PTI chief is adamant not to show up before it.

Finally, the ECP issued his bail-able arrest warrants and directed the Islamabad police to apprehend him and present him before it on September 25. However, it has been suspended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Instead of surrendering to the judicial process, Imran Khan further slammed the ECP and questioned its powers. He accused it of being a tool of the PML-N and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to proceed against him.

He challenged the ECP powers to hear the foreign funding case and issue him the contempt notice in the IHC for innumerable times but to no avail. Every time, the IHC asked him to face the proceedings in the ECP.

Imran Khan has not gone to the Supreme Court to attend the hearings on Hanif Abbasi’s petitions, seeking his and Jehangir Tareen’s disqualification for concealing assets. Not only he but every PTI leader has refrained from being present in these crucial proceedings, which are nearing conclusion.