Pakistan's political leaders are a hapless lot. They demonstrate, time and again, that they have no morality or ethical values left. However, as they are the result or outcome of genuine political processes so by default they attract the support of those who believe democracy is the only way forward. And because the alternative to the Pakistani political class—the military-bureaucratic elite—is itself too horrible to accept as a ruling group in our society, the democrats have no choice but to accept the illiberal-inept-qualm less political elite as their saviours.
The recent controversy surrounding the alleged audio tape of former chief justice Saqib Nisar proved to be the catalyst for my above mentioned diatribe against Pakistani political leaders. They are debating whether the tape is genuine or fake and whether the voice in it is of former CJP Saqib Nisar. And whether this tape will help Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the court verdict, in a case of criminal nature, quashed from a higher court.
I have not come across a single voice who has the guts to ask as to who has been bugging the phones of a sitting chief justice of Pakistan? Chief Justice of Pakistan is one of the top state functionaries in the country, who has the sole constitutional power and ultimate authority to interpret the provisions of the constitution.
In the late 1990s, the Supreme Court declared the act of telephone taping of Supreme Court judges as a sufficient ground for the dissolution of National Assembly and dismissal of incumbent government when former President Farooq Khan Leghari alleged in the order for dissolution of national assembly in 1996 that Benazir Bhutto government was involved in the telephone taping of superior court judges.
In June 2015, then chief justice Saqib Nisar revived a suo motu notice issued by former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah on the issue of telephone tapping by intelligence agencies. And despite insistence the Attorney General refused to hold in camera session of the suo motu notice or to quash the proceedings. Perhaps he was anticipating what would be happening with him—a process that would produce one of the most damning pieces of evidence that could de-legitimise the whole political and judicial system.
A sitting chief justice allegedly ordered an unknown person in a casual conversation to punish Nawaz Sharif and his daughter with a jail sentence in order to pave the way for Imran Khan in parliamentary elections. The chief justice could also be purportedly heard saying that there was some pressure coming from 'institutions' — a code word for military and its affiliate intelligence services in Pakistani political circles—that both the father and daughter should be punished. No dates are mentioned in the conversation and there is no concomitant evidence to suggest when the conversation took place.
Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, were sentenced to 10 years and 7 years jail term respectively by an accountability court on July 6, 2018. Parliamentary elections took place on 25 July 2018. So it would be safe to assume that the tapped conversation between former Chief Justice and unidentified person took place before July 6 2018.
Any private party could not possibly have tapped the chief justice's phone. The surveillance gadgets required for such an exercise are not easily available in Pakistan. Such gadgets have to be imported from the US, where they are available off the shelf. But because these devices are considered contrabands in the Pakistani society, it is unlikely that a private party carried out the tapping.
Secondly, a private party will either have to get a physical access to landline used by the chief justice to get such a politically valuable piece of intelligence or he will have to remain present (for hours if not for days and weeks) in the vicinity of where Chief Justice resides or sits in his office to make the required gadgets work.
The chief justice is a state functionary and his security is the responsibility of every security agency and Islamabad’s police and his residence and office remain heavily guarded. Therefore, the possibility of a private party getting physical access or remaining in his vicinity for a longer period of time are out of question.
What may have happened is that this audio tape is an edited version of a long conversation that was bugged by one or the other leading intelligence agencies of the country. This few seconds long audio tape is a jackpot for any politically minded intelligence officer. It is not likely that the bugging commenced the moment the chief justice made these comments. His phone was probably being tapped as a routine matter.
True, the disclosures made in the audio tape are explosive as they implicate the chief justice, the judge who was hearing Nawaz Sharif’s case and the institutions (code name for military) who are said to be putting pressure on the judiciary to punish Nawaz Sharif and his daughter. But more explosive is the fact that the Chief Justice of Pakistan was under surveillance. His private conversations were subject to eavesdropping by state intelligence agencies.
Two inferences could be drawn from the facts that are known up till now: The audio tape was released by a website FACT FOCUS being run by a self exiled Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Noorani. Let’s assume Ahmed Noorani, who fled from Pakistan after he was beaten up by intelligence sleuths in Islamabad, is the one who has received this edited telephone conversation from one or the other intelligence agencies of Pakistan. This is an unlikely scenario as Ahmed is on the wrong side of Pakistani state machinery. His exiled status confirms this. Most of the observers believe that it was PMLN people who provided Noorani with the tape. Whether Ahmed Noorani received the tapes himself or PMLN people acted as a go-between, one thing is for sure: it was only Pakistani state machinery which has the technical wherewithal and resources to carry out tapping on their own. After all as the saying goes, crises make strange bedfellows.
So Is PMLN in bed with the intelligence services of Pakistan? After all, there is no question that one of the other Pakistan intelligence services tapped the phones of the former Chief Justice, in case the audio tape is genuine.
This system is imploding from within. There are popular political forces which have been deeply dissatisfied with the outcomes of this political system. Now it seems some segments of the powers that be are equally dissatisfied with the outcomes of this system. This explosive audio tape, if legit, can’t be explained in any other way. The PMLN has a partner or a mole in the system.
The recent controversy surrounding the alleged audio tape of former chief justice Saqib Nisar proved to be the catalyst for my above mentioned diatribe against Pakistani political leaders. They are debating whether the tape is genuine or fake and whether the voice in it is of former CJP Saqib Nisar. And whether this tape will help Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the court verdict, in a case of criminal nature, quashed from a higher court.
I have not come across a single voice who has the guts to ask as to who has been bugging the phones of a sitting chief justice of Pakistan? Chief Justice of Pakistan is one of the top state functionaries in the country, who has the sole constitutional power and ultimate authority to interpret the provisions of the constitution.
In the late 1990s, the Supreme Court declared the act of telephone taping of Supreme Court judges as a sufficient ground for the dissolution of National Assembly and dismissal of incumbent government when former President Farooq Khan Leghari alleged in the order for dissolution of national assembly in 1996 that Benazir Bhutto government was involved in the telephone taping of superior court judges.
In June 2015, then chief justice Saqib Nisar revived a suo motu notice issued by former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah on the issue of telephone tapping by intelligence agencies. And despite insistence the Attorney General refused to hold in camera session of the suo motu notice or to quash the proceedings. Perhaps he was anticipating what would be happening with him—a process that would produce one of the most damning pieces of evidence that could de-legitimise the whole political and judicial system.
A sitting chief justice allegedly ordered an unknown person in a casual conversation to punish Nawaz Sharif and his daughter with a jail sentence in order to pave the way for Imran Khan in parliamentary elections. The chief justice could also be purportedly heard saying that there was some pressure coming from 'institutions' — a code word for military and its affiliate intelligence services in Pakistani political circles—that both the father and daughter should be punished. No dates are mentioned in the conversation and there is no concomitant evidence to suggest when the conversation took place.
Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, were sentenced to 10 years and 7 years jail term respectively by an accountability court on July 6, 2018. Parliamentary elections took place on 25 July 2018. So it would be safe to assume that the tapped conversation between former Chief Justice and unidentified person took place before July 6 2018.
Any private party could not possibly have tapped the chief justice's phone. The surveillance gadgets required for such an exercise are not easily available in Pakistan. Such gadgets have to be imported from the US, where they are available off the shelf. But because these devices are considered contrabands in the Pakistani society, it is unlikely that a private party carried out the tapping.
Secondly, a private party will either have to get a physical access to landline used by the chief justice to get such a politically valuable piece of intelligence or he will have to remain present (for hours if not for days and weeks) in the vicinity of where Chief Justice resides or sits in his office to make the required gadgets work.
The chief justice is a state functionary and his security is the responsibility of every security agency and Islamabad’s police and his residence and office remain heavily guarded. Therefore, the possibility of a private party getting physical access or remaining in his vicinity for a longer period of time are out of question.
Any private party could not possibly have tapped the chief justice's phone. The surveillance gadgets required for such an exercise are not easily available in Pakistan. Such gadgets have to be imported from the US, where they are available off the shelf. But because these devices are considered contrabands in the Pakistani society, it is unlikely that a private party carried out the tapping.
What may have happened is that this audio tape is an edited version of a long conversation that was bugged by one or the other leading intelligence agencies of the country. This few seconds long audio tape is a jackpot for any politically minded intelligence officer. It is not likely that the bugging commenced the moment the chief justice made these comments. His phone was probably being tapped as a routine matter.
True, the disclosures made in the audio tape are explosive as they implicate the chief justice, the judge who was hearing Nawaz Sharif’s case and the institutions (code name for military) who are said to be putting pressure on the judiciary to punish Nawaz Sharif and his daughter. But more explosive is the fact that the Chief Justice of Pakistan was under surveillance. His private conversations were subject to eavesdropping by state intelligence agencies.
Two inferences could be drawn from the facts that are known up till now: The audio tape was released by a website FACT FOCUS being run by a self exiled Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Noorani. Let’s assume Ahmed Noorani, who fled from Pakistan after he was beaten up by intelligence sleuths in Islamabad, is the one who has received this edited telephone conversation from one or the other intelligence agencies of Pakistan. This is an unlikely scenario as Ahmed is on the wrong side of Pakistani state machinery. His exiled status confirms this. Most of the observers believe that it was PMLN people who provided Noorani with the tape. Whether Ahmed Noorani received the tapes himself or PMLN people acted as a go-between, one thing is for sure: it was only Pakistani state machinery which has the technical wherewithal and resources to carry out tapping on their own. After all as the saying goes, crises make strange bedfellows.
So Is PMLN in bed with the intelligence services of Pakistan? After all, there is no question that one of the other Pakistan intelligence services tapped the phones of the former Chief Justice, in case the audio tape is genuine.
This system is imploding from within. There are popular political forces which have been deeply dissatisfied with the outcomes of this political system. Now it seems some segments of the powers that be are equally dissatisfied with the outcomes of this system. This explosive audio tape, if legit, can’t be explained in any other way. The PMLN has a partner or a mole in the system.