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Thursday March 28, 2024

Breaking cycle of impunity

By Akram Shaheedi
November 25, 2019

Never dull moments on the political horizon of the country though sadly riddled with the rhetoric of fixing the opponents out with vengeance. The developments during the next couple of months may give a lot of stuff for slugfest to the treasury and Opposition benches alike to shoot the opponents both from the hip and straight on the face for sadly futile reasons.

Interesting times for the media warriors, pen-pushers and social-media activists indeed that may ironically be source of added discomfort to the people out there. They feel betrayed as their hopes of better tomorrow have been seemingly dashed to the ground. The alarms bells may be ringing as perception of the government among the electorates have taken nosedive due to its failure to provide relief to them.

This is the general feelings hanging among the people right across barring of the captive supporters of the ruling party. The criticism of the coalition partners lately of the government policies fueled the fire that may hold out something unthinkable in the not too distant future. Their damage control statements afterwards may be deemed as too little.

The case of foreign funding of the PTI may dominate the discourse because as the ECP seems determined to decide it by holding daily hearings. The ruling party is struggling to deflect the missile by demanding the similar investigations of the other major parties hoping to further delay the case that may save it from the unforgiving consequences that the party has been successfully evading for the last five years. The election of the new chief election commissioner will also figure out prominently as government may like to bulldoze it pro-actively but the Opposition is bound to challenge the juggernaut of the ruling party by invoking the constitutional pre-requisites that must be fulfilled in the first place.

The expected decision of the court against the General Musharraf’s treason case later this month is likely to hold the space in the print and electronic media for quite some time fueled by conspiracy theories those will be abounds. The health issues of the two leaders of the major political parties may continue the focus of discussions at all forums.

The speculations about the new leadership in the Army institution have been put to rest after the formalisation of the higher level appointments in the army hierarchy.

The chief justice and the judiciary may make history as it is going to decide the treason case against former military dictator General Musharraf for imposing emergency in November 2007 in the country, a high treason crime against the country and the constitution. He even dismissed the judges of the apex court and confined them in their residences. No doubt absolute power corrupts absolutely. His action optimised the manifestation of embarrassment of grotesque scale. The judgment may wash the indelible stains of its past dominated by the judgment in Maulvi Tameezuddin case in which “Doctrine of Necessity” was invented to justify the action of the then governor general to dissolve the constituent assembly.

The successive dictatorships in the country were the collateral outcomes. The expected judgment this month will, for the first time, may hold the military dictator accountable for the crime he committed against the constitution of Pakistan. Such dictators had never been held accountable in the history of this country notwithstanding causing prohibitive outcomes to the nation and the country. Ironically, the role of the judiciary was generally disliked in such despotic misadventures by providing legal cover and even authorising the dictators of rewriting the constitution to the utter disregard of the aspirations of the people. The country had not recovered fully from the pitfalls of the “Doctrine of Necessity” even today as its snowball impacts continue to hound the political landscape of the country.

General Ayub Khan committed the first sin in 1958 when he abrogated the 1956 constitution passed by the constituent assembly thus eroding the political unity between the East Pakistan and the West Pakistan laying the foundation of Bangladesh that became reality in 1971. The era of General Ziaul Haq can be equated with ferocious dictatorship, the ultimate misfortune of the nation that injected the venom of communalism, bigotry and terrorism in the society. These evils of the evil had totally shattered the social fabric of the society besides badly tarnishing the image of the country globally. General Musharraf brought the Afghan war into the country as he surrounded to one telephone call made by the junior official of the US State Department. This war of attrition had proved as the mega strategic blunder of dictators besides carrying heavy cost both in blood and treasure. Today, it is hard to find a solitary favourable voice for Pakistan in Afghanistan what to talk of “strategic depth”.

General Musharraf’s flaunted presence in the foreign country has been widely quoted by the people as symptomatic of the judiciary’s helplessness that dares not to put hand on the powerful to face the law. This state of affairs obviously presupposes the continuous backing of the power that be, and also puts question mark on the independence of judiciary. Not good for the image of the institutions. It may be recalled that the legal fraternity and the people of Pakistan launched an arduous campaign led by former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry with the full backing of the political leadership, for the independence of judiciary in 2007. But, the anti-democratic forces seemingly have regained the space incrementally shaking the confidence of the people in the judiciary. The incumbent chief justice’s public statement has rekindled the hopes of the people that the powerful would have to face the legal consequences of their doings regardless of one’s position or status. The people are cautiously optimistic as the dictator has resorted to his familiar tactics focused to deny the attainment of finality of the case. Let us hope and pray the judgment in this case may hold the dictator accountable thoroughly and comprehensively and the supremacy of the rule of law in this country is established beyond any shred of doubt.

If it unfolds so it will be the beginning of good fortune of the nation in qualitative terms whereas the “Doctrine of Necessity” was the beginning of the despicable misfortune of the country that was instrumental of befalling of the successive despotic rules in the country. Culture of impunity and illegality may become relic of the past as the expected judgment may totally blunt the edge of these evils for all times to come.

Thankfully, the people have rather took the sigh of relief as Nawaz Sharif , leader of PML-N now in London, was undergoing medical treatment after Lahore High Court allowed him to go to London without fulfilling the condition of the Rs7 billion indemnity bond as pre-condition imposed by the government to enable the Opposition leader to fly out of the country.

The people right across the country may surely be overwhelmingly relieved of the agony they have been undergoing for the last many months if former president and PPP Co-Chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, is also provided the mere facility of treatment by the doctor of his choice. The denial of the facility is already strengthening the perception of discrimination that may be addressed sooner than later by the authorities. He has been under custody of NAB for the last four months merely on the basis of allegations that smacks of the travesty of justice by any criterion. It may be deemed as classic case where accused is deemed as guilty unless proven otherwise, utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of dispensation of justice. The NAB has failed to file the references even after the lapse of many months notwithstanding the managed media trial of the PPP leader of being behind the benami accounts of billions of rupees including transfer of huge money through illegal channels. His continuous detention by NAB authorities leaves no doubt of the draconian and discriminatory nature of NAB law that may be equated with Black Law in its all forms and manifestations.

The PPP has decided to launch the drive to press the government to extend facility to the former president of including the doctor of his choice in the medical board deputed to address the health issues of the co-chairman. The PPP will not press the case of its leader by comparing it with the PML-N leader because the co-chairman’s case nature is different from as it is based on allegations not on conviction. Secondly, PPP will be pressing for the inclusion of the personal physician of the co-chairman in the medical board as the matter of his right. The PPP will also not follow the case on the basis of discriminatory treatment being meted out to Asif Ali Zardari.

People pray for his early and complete recovery of health of the both leaders of the PPP and the PML-N. The prime minister’s comments in his speech last week about the health of the Nawaz Sharif even after the expert opinion of Shaukat Khanum’s top doctor only reflected his vendetta that was devoid of civility, propriety and dignity of the persona holding the coveted position of the country. His ridiculing the body language of Nawaz Sharif like a healthy person was not only in bad taste but also equal to casting aspersions on the professional judgment of the eminent doctors of the country who were unanimous about the critical health of Nawaz Sharif. Prime minister’s comment may have sadly reflected poorly on his intellect reinforcing the alacrity that might not measure up to a leader of that stature.

muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com