The PTI government continues to witch hunt its political opponents through state institutions like NAB, FIA and ANF, eroding their credibility and straining the justice system. Since NAB and the ANF, in particular, are managed by serving or retired military officers, this practice is unfortunately tarring the image of the military as a “national” institution above the din and fray of “dirty politics”.
This developing angst in society is reflected in the recent verdict against General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in which a senior judge wrote that after the convict’s death in foreign lands “his corpse should be dragged to D Chowk in Islamabad and hung there for three days”. A second is the widespread view that by “selecting” and then siding openly with a failing government the military has put personal interests above institutional ones, most prominently in the case of the army chief’s tenurial extension. Yet another is the arrest of Rana Sanaullah Khan, the PMLN MNA, by the ANF last July, in which senior military officers in the ANF are perceived to have colluded in concocting a false case at the behest of the government.
In fact, despite a barrage of propaganda, Rana Sanaullah’s case has elicited strong public disapproval. He was detained in July but the ANF has failed to indict him so far. The tall claims of the minister in charge, Sheharyar Afridi, about the existence of video proofs are not backed up by the ANF. Rana’s bail applications were twice rejected by the special court, in one case the judge who was inclined to dispense justice was transferred in the midst of a hearing by, as he himself said in open court, “a Whatsapp message”, it being left to the Lahore High Court to eventually free him. Rana’s wife has taunted the prime minister: “You people said you would pluck out the hair in his moustache but, look, not a single hair is missing”!
NAB’s track record is, unfortunately, quite depressing too. It is chaired by a retired judge of the Supreme Court who is a decent fellow who wants to be even-handed but is being blackmailed by the government to be selective against the opposition. In an interview to a journalist some months ago, the NAB Chairman was confronted with charges of partisanship, upon which he pledged to go after the big fish in the PTI government, especially those involved in a couple of projects like the BRT and Malam Jabba cases that smack of big scale corruption. But then some videos suddenly emerged and went viral (thanks to a TV Channel close to the PTI government), compromising his person. Since then, NAB has stalled investigations into these projects, conniving with the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to seek “ stay” orders from the courts.
Now NAB has laid itself open to further public censure by arresting Ahsan Iqbal, the Secretary-General of the PMLN, hours after he publicly welcomed the verdict against General (retd) Musharraf and hoped that it would be a deterrent against military interventions in the future. Not to be left behind, the FIA has summoned the PMLN’s Pervez Rashid, who was targeted by the brass in the notorious Dawnleaks case but continues to speak up. The testimony of Bashir Memon, the FIA chief who stepped aside recently, points to the PM’s personal obsession with hounding PMLN and PPP leaders.
Worse, the media has buttoned up since the ISPR effectively seized control of PEMRA and started pressurizing it to start slapping “notices” on TV channels on how to dispense news and opinion and stop various opposition politicians from airing opinions in the media. Some TV shows and anchors have been banned outrightly, most others have to contend with hard censorship “advice”.
In this muzzled state of being, a couple of recent decisions by the higher courts – convicting General (retd) Musharraf and granting bail to Asif Zardari, Rana Sanaullah and Miftah Ismail – suggest signs of resistance. But two cases will test the mettle of the judges. The first relates to the fate of a serving army chief and the second to that of a retired one. Both raise important concerns about the nexus of the Miltablishment with a “selected” political party and leader.
The PTI government is petitioning the SC to review its judgment regarding the army chief’s extension rather than going to parliament to make a new law as advised by the SC. Why it has chosen this path is unclear. What if valuable time is lost without achieving its objective and the army chief is left high and dry in the end? Then there’s the question of the Special Court’s verdict against Gen (retd) Musharraf. Or will it uphold it or remand the case for fresh trial? It is significant that the Lahore High Court has already accepted a petition challenging the very constitution of the Special Court.
Let’s get this right. It is the very organs of the state, and not the PMLN and PPP or Media, that are on trial.
This developing angst in society is reflected in the recent verdict against General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in which a senior judge wrote that after the convict’s death in foreign lands “his corpse should be dragged to D Chowk in Islamabad and hung there for three days”. A second is the widespread view that by “selecting” and then siding openly with a failing government the military has put personal interests above institutional ones, most prominently in the case of the army chief’s tenurial extension. Yet another is the arrest of Rana Sanaullah Khan, the PMLN MNA, by the ANF last July, in which senior military officers in the ANF are perceived to have colluded in concocting a false case at the behest of the government.
In fact, despite a barrage of propaganda, Rana Sanaullah’s case has elicited strong public disapproval. He was detained in July but the ANF has failed to indict him so far. The tall claims of the minister in charge, Sheharyar Afridi, about the existence of video proofs are not backed up by the ANF. Rana’s bail applications were twice rejected by the special court, in one case the judge who was inclined to dispense justice was transferred in the midst of a hearing by, as he himself said in open court, “a Whatsapp message”, it being left to the Lahore High Court to eventually free him. Rana’s wife has taunted the prime minister: “You people said you would pluck out the hair in his moustache but, look, not a single hair is missing”!
NAB’s track record is, unfortunately, quite depressing too. It is chaired by a retired judge of the Supreme Court who is a decent fellow who wants to be even-handed but is being blackmailed by the government to be selective against the opposition. In an interview to a journalist some months ago, the NAB Chairman was confronted with charges of partisanship, upon which he pledged to go after the big fish in the PTI government, especially those involved in a couple of projects like the BRT and Malam Jabba cases that smack of big scale corruption. But then some videos suddenly emerged and went viral (thanks to a TV Channel close to the PTI government), compromising his person. Since then, NAB has stalled investigations into these projects, conniving with the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to seek “ stay” orders from the courts.
Now NAB has laid itself open to further public censure by arresting Ahsan Iqbal, the Secretary-General of the PMLN, hours after he publicly welcomed the verdict against General (retd) Musharraf and hoped that it would be a deterrent against military interventions in the future. Not to be left behind, the FIA has summoned the PMLN’s Pervez Rashid, who was targeted by the brass in the notorious Dawnleaks case but continues to speak up. The testimony of Bashir Memon, the FIA chief who stepped aside recently, points to the PM’s personal obsession with hounding PMLN and PPP leaders.
Worse, the media has buttoned up since the ISPR effectively seized control of PEMRA and started pressurizing it to start slapping “notices” on TV channels on how to dispense news and opinion and stop various opposition politicians from airing opinions in the media. Some TV shows and anchors have been banned outrightly, most others have to contend with hard censorship “advice”.
In this muzzled state of being, a couple of recent decisions by the higher courts – convicting General (retd) Musharraf and granting bail to Asif Zardari, Rana Sanaullah and Miftah Ismail – suggest signs of resistance. But two cases will test the mettle of the judges. The first relates to the fate of a serving army chief and the second to that of a retired one. Both raise important concerns about the nexus of the Miltablishment with a “selected” political party and leader.
The PTI government is petitioning the SC to review its judgment regarding the army chief’s extension rather than going to parliament to make a new law as advised by the SC. Why it has chosen this path is unclear. What if valuable time is lost without achieving its objective and the army chief is left high and dry in the end? Then there’s the question of the Special Court’s verdict against Gen (retd) Musharraf. Or will it uphold it or remand the case for fresh trial? It is significant that the Lahore High Court has already accepted a petition challenging the very constitution of the Special Court.
Let’s get this right. It is the very organs of the state, and not the PMLN and PPP or Media, that are on trial.