Post ‘video leak’ scenario

Who is making the whole process of ‘accountability’ controversial and why? While the government has announced complete investigation and forensic test of the video released by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, of the judge of accountability Court Arshad Malik, why the same process was not adopted when the video of NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) was leaked by a TV channel, whose owner was a member of PM’s media team.

The PML-N top leadership must have gone through all alleged videos before releasing its ‘Part-1’ and might have taken the legal opinion as well of the possible consequences, the story of NAB chairman may once again become part of the whole series.

Both, Mr Javed Iqbal and Mr Arshad Malik have denied the allegations but the fact remains both are available on social media even if Pemra once again has issued show cause notices to TV channel, which aired the video of Mr Malik. In Mr Iqbal’s case it fined the channel News-1, Rs1 million.

The political consequences of these developments could be far reaching as Opposition parties have geared up their anti-government campaign and announced July 25 as ‘Black Day’ on the completion of one year of Elections-2018.

Maryam has not only put her own political future at stake but that of the main leadership of the party too including PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, who apparently has endorsed her view.

Sources said the decision to address the press conference and release the video was taken in consultation with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif while some party leaders did express their reservations over the premature release of video and have also warned her about the possible consequences.

Unlike NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd), who did not take any legal course against columnist/anchor Javed Chaudhry, who still stand-by his interview with him, judge Arshad Malik not only demanded probe into the matter but also reportedly decided to write a letter to the Islamabad High Court.

However, judge Malik’s own allegation on the PML-N and former premier Nawaz Sharif for offering him bribe for favourable verdict and serious threat if he fails to do so, required thorough probe and raised few questions as well.

Some legal experts surprised as why judge Malik did not take action against those who approached him and tried to bribe him. Why he did not inform the authorities about the threat to his life.

Maryam or the PML-N have not yet announced whether they would submit this video or if any other video as they claimed in the Islamabad High Court as part of their defence or not but they must have taken the legal opinion from Nawaz’s lawyer, Kh Haris even before making it public.

So, one thing is certain that the matter will not die down soon. It will either be decided before Nawaz and Maryam’s appeals against their convictions were taken up or during the course of appeals.

Maryam has started her campaign for the release of Nawaz and held a public meeting at Mandi Bahauddin, in which she declared that after the video of the judge, his verdict against Nawaz should be declared null and void.

The PTI government on its part has decided to ‘secure’ Mr Malik and both law minister and PM’s adviser on information have warned Maryam and the PML-N leadership of the consequences in case they failed to prove it.

But prime minister’s aide on national accountability Shehzad Akbar has taken a middle road during his media talk. While he expressed his doubt over the content of the video and suggested that Maryam should have taken a legal course rather than public one. He believed that the judge should also get his name cleared. “Had I been in his place, I would not have continued unless cleared my name,” he reportedly said in a TV talk show.

There is no doubt that whatever happened in the last few weeks have raised serious questions on the process of accountability. It all started with the reported interview of NAB chairman with leading columnist Javed Chaudhry. In his two back-to-back columns, he disclosed about his marathon meeting with the NAB chief, which according to him was both ‘on the record and off the record’.

Opposition leaders like PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Sirajul Haq, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others demanded Judicial Commission in this matter. If some more audio, video are leaked as hinted by Maryam and told to this scribe by some other people as well, it could create quite a political turmoil in the country.

No one knows the content of the other alleged videos and whether they would be released or leaked or not but it is learnt that the controversy would not die down soon. Unfortunately Pakistan’s political and judicial history is not something we should be proud of but at the same time it is also a matter of fact that politicians and judges in the past had been ‘used’ through ‘audio and video’ tapes and controversial files etc.

From Midnight Jackal to Mehran Bank scam to Malik Qayyum, such practice was followed more often. Key character of Asghar Khan Case late Younas Habib had the habit of recording conversation of politicians who he allegedly paid money in 1990.

In the recent past, photographs of Hussain Nawaz and Rana Sanaullah were leaked for the sole purpose of humiliating and embarrassing them. If the government had taken notice of the earlier video and ordered complete probe into the matter as the credibility of the NAB chairman was at stake, things might have been different today.

The writer is a senior columnist and analyst of Geo, The News and Jang.

Twitter: @MazharAbbasGEO