Where will the disgraced generals and politicians hide now?
The beauty of the truth is that it cannot be suppressed for ever. The world history is replete with people in authority committing crimes against their own people and keeping them under wraps and ultimately falling victim to their own shenanigans. I call it a divine justice. The SC verdict in Asghar Khan case is one of those divine interventions. The coup generals supported by the rightists political parties, religious entities and the reactionary elements not only pummeled the constitution and destroyed the state institutions but also made sure that the progressive and genuine parties enjoying support of the masses remained away from the corridors of power and if voted into power were not allowed to complete their mandated tenure.
The echoes about their sinister machinations though had been resonating since long but there was no authentic evidence available to put them to shame. The characters involved in these anti-people activities and unconstitutional indiscretions have been calling shots for more than five decades either through their direct involvement in running the state affairs or behind the scene arm-twisting tactics. They also had the audacity to deny any wrongdoing and kept posing themselves as saviours of the people.
Nobody in his wildest of dreams had ever entertained the notion that these praetorian powers will ever have to account for their misdeeds or face the ignominy of being arraigned in the courts of law. Such was their fear and predominance that even the court did not have the nerve to proceed in the writ petition filed by Asghar Khan sixteen years ago. It had almost become a piece of the archives. But as the proverb goes, man proposes God disposes. The times took a dramatic turn. Musharraf committed the folly of deposing the SC judges which triggered a countrywide movement by the lawyers initially for the restoration of the deposed judges and eventually stoked into a movement for independence of judiciary; enjoying overwhelming support of the civil society and the media. While the restored judges of the SC were giving tough time to the incumbent government in matters relating to governance and the NRO case verdict, the ruling PPP and media built pressure on the judiciary to take up Asghar Khan’s petition which eventually it did.
The short verdict announced a few days ago and now the detailed decision has confirmed the sinister conspiracies that were hatched to obstruct the democratic process by depriving the PPP of its legitimate right and stealing the mandate of the people. The names of the generals, the real and central characters of the plot, were already known and now an authentic list of the politicians who were part of this profane enactment have also been revealed. What a shame! It even includes the name of a person who twice has been the prime minister of Pakistan and currently is the leader of the second largest political party. The verdict also raises questions about the legitimacy of his rule and the decisions taken by his government after the 1990 elections.
Before and after the short verdict, the leadership of PML-N, including Nawaz Sharif, has been vehemently denying having received money or done any thing wrong. Opposition leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar in a press conference had even posed a question: what have we done? Ahsan Iqbal also talked in the same vein. The list also includes the name of another stalwart Javed Hashmi a former leader of PML-N and now Vice President of PTI, the party promising to usher in a revolution through the much trumpeted tsunami.
One wonders where would they hide their faces now that the SC has made public their names and also asked for the recovery of the amounts given to them along with interest and appropriate legal action against them for playing an abetting role in that un-constitutional manoeuvre by the then army chief and DG ISI, reportedly at the behest of late President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Wait a minuet. Why would they hide their faces? There exists no tradition in this country of politicians and people in authority feeling pangs of their conscience and expressing remorse for their misdeeds. After listening to the seemingly arrogant and uncouth diatribe of General (retd) Hamid Gul and his taking pride in putting together IJI, a proven act of sedition as per the constitution, I am sure he and his colleagues in the khakis will still remain adamant and remorseless. Similar behaviour can be expected from the politicians involved. They still stand a chance of getting away unscathed because of the legal lucanaes in our investigative, prosecution and justice system and the corruption that exists in these institutions. It might take years for the investigations to be completed or the courts dealing with those cases.
The SC in its verdict has unequivocally stated that the involved generals did what they did in their personal capacities and their respective institutions were not involved. That probably is the most redeeming factor of this shameless episode. The army chief in a statement issued on 6 November has emphasised the need for law taking its own course. It is an encouraging development. General Kayani has already shown his commitment to justice by initiating court martial proceedings against former generals involved in the NLC corruption case. It can, therefore, be hoped that the generals involved in the formation of IJI and using public money to steal the public mandate will also be held accountable and punished for their unconstitutional actions.
As a matter of principle, the SC should itself have taken the matter to its logical end. The generals because of the ouster class in the constitution may not be tried in a civil court but the politicians and other recipients of the distributed money identified in the affidavits of Younis Habib, General Asad Durrani and Brig (retd) Hamid Saeed Akhtar can be put through an accelerated process of justice before they are able to circumvent or blunt the sharp edges of the SC order. Perhaps it would be desirable to constitute a judicial commission like it was done in the memo case, mandated to complete its investigation within a month and recommend punishments for the characters of the act. The process should be completed much before the coming elections so that the people are able to make right choices.