Mind already made up
What Lt Gen (retd) Nadeem told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation raises questions about his neutrality, a vital ingredient for determining the fitness of a member of a probe commission. His dogmatic “I have absolutely not an iota of doubt on this, that no government in Pakistan, no military in Pakistan, no intelligence organisation in Pakistan would do such a stupid thing,” indicates he has made up his mind before the completion of the hearings. There are enough examples in Pakistan where all the three institutions he has exonerated on no grounds except for a faith in their rationality have committed, and in fact continue to do so, totally irrational acts.
To cite a few examples, it was sheer stupidity to launch a military operation in East Pakistan, 1280 nautical miles from Karachi, both on grounds of common sense and military strategy. Musharraf’s Kargil adventure was again another thoroughly irrational operation for which the army had to pay an exceptionally heavy price. The decision to kill Akbar Bugti, the forced disappearances in Balochistan and the incidence of dead bodies of those taken into custody without due process thrown on roadside are all acts of irrationality. The practice is to cover up and refuse to hold enquiry. In rare cases where enquiry is forced upon any of the three institutions, its findings are kept secret.
When the commission was being set up, reservations were expressed by some independent-minded figures about its impartiality. It was maintained that the nomination of three former civil and military bureaucrats on the body would inspire little confidence in its independence. The remarks by Lt Gen Nadeem (retd) prove that the reservations were not altogether unfounded.
With his doctrinal views about the infallibility of the institutions, the only gentlemanly way open for him would have been to decline to join the commission probing their role. He has rightly been reprimanded for the statement by Justice Javed Iqbal, chairman of the Commission, This however is not enough. Lt Gen (retd) Nadeem needs to ponder over whether his continued association with the mission would really inspire confidence in it. A man with predetermined views regarding an issue yet under probe is least fit to sit on an independent enquiry commission.