The contagion of alternate facts spreads from Trump’s America to Pakistan
Alternate facts with little recognition of the truth seem to be all the rage these days. It’s as if the contagion from Donald Trump’s America has spread to Pakistan. This deadly virus decimates the truth, curls it up and crushes it without any reference to facts or figures and then it is unfurled with all its blemishes and warts hidden by a thin veneer and presented by the media. The possibility and effort to decipher and extricate the facts or present the other side of the story is not even being considered for inexplicable reasons. The same debacle has occurred yet again. Partial truths, half-truths and pure conjecture have all merged to conjure a tale, which has caught the imagination of the media in a sensationalist and highly one-sided coverage. The self-congratulatory backslapping of many anchors that have covered the news appears to them enough testimony and needs no confirmation. As of today, not a single person representing the other side has been invited to the podium. The investors in the project, who are hard working professionals and individuals who have put their life savings and trust in the country, are being termed as the “elite” immediately conjuring up images of greed and corruption and resurrecting a caricature of a mythical monster which has reared its ugly head to usurp and swallow the State. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know I am one of the investors.
The case I am referring to is the one sided coverage of the case of BNP vs CDA which has not had any representation from BNP or any of the investors who put their hard earned income at stake, yet again. The media which flits from one story to the next like a restless myopic fly, or the political leadership which is supposed to be the custodian of enforcing the laws, have not paused long enough to reflect and consider that the actual facts in the case have been deliberately manipulated and the judgment meted out by our judiciary make no rational sense. It would in fact establish a dangerous precedent that undermines the very foundations of security and stability in the country, which is already struggling and hoping to emerge from the dark clouds of terrorism, isolation and poor governance.
This is a plea to the media and the political leadership to halt the injustice that is being perpetuated and to advocate justice and sanity.
On 3rd March, the Islamabad High Court dismissed petitions against the cancellation of the lease of the land on which the One Constitution hotel and apartment towers were being constructed. According to the Judgment issued by Honourable Justice Athar Minallah, “The 240 Purchasers in this case have been robbed of their hard earned savings solely due to regulatory failure and negligence of the CDA and the Government as well.” Yet is his judgment, the Judge has done nothing to protect the rights of those affected, except to issue a vague pronouncement that the investors should be compensated. The judgment calls for purchasers to seek compensation from the Government and CDA; causing more confusion and condemning the innocent purchasers to many years in the wilderness of bureaucratic tangles as determination is made on who will pay, how much to pay and when the coffers might have sufficient resources to make such a payment.
A dangerous precedent has been established by the incomprehensible judgment which is being hailed by some as a “Landmark” judgment. What the court has done in reality is that it has taken the building from its rightful purchasers and handed it back to CDA whom it deemed negligent and corrupt and party to the “fraud”. The message that is being sent is that a development authority can approve a project, sign an irrevocable lease deed and after many years when the project is ready and third party rights have been created, declare it illegal and confiscate it. This is indeed a dark day and has shaken the investment climate precisely at a time when Pakistan is hoping that its economy would make a turn around and confidence of foreign and Pakistani investors would be protected.
The history of this country is replete with examples of how we have repeatedly suffered from spastic fits of self-destruction and undermined the ability of our own businessmen and entrepreneurs to undertake any business venture. We have always assumed that the private sector is corrupt and have repeatedly unleashed the forces of wrath and envy on them. The nationalization by Bhutto, the case of the 303 which was the cream of the business community has been systematically shut down or chased away. Have we ever asked ourselves why there is no bankruptcy law in the country? It is a wonder that anyone takes a risk and invests their money in this country. Remember the financial crisis when America came to the rescue of its corrupt banking and rating agencies. The fact is that BNP had signed a lease agreement with CDA. Trying to untangle the quagmire of what the original advertisement contained, who were the original parties to the bid, who changed their names and became a party to the bid, and drawing artificial distinctions between serviced apartments and residential apartments is a futile exercise and intentionally designed to obfuscate what should have been a straightforward decision.
The fact is that CDA signed an agreement with BNP. As an institution representing the State, the onus for signing this must be put squarely on the shoulders of CDA who had no defense in court except to admit its officers were guilty of corruption. Has anyone asked how CDA could have sold a plot on the promise that the developer could build 40 stories on it and then have it cut to half? What was the financial loss of this reduction to BNP and how was it to be compensated for this loss? How CDA having signed an irrevocable agreement could have revoked it unilaterally and unashamedly? How the developer was expected to earn from the development of the plots if he was not to sell the lease rights? How was he to protect himself if the CDA took an inordinate amount of time to approve the hotel plans? How come the media has not asked these questions? I am surprised that BNP is steadfastly trying to pursue legal recourse and has not fled and optimistically hoping to get justice and going into appeal. I would have tucked my tail between my legs and gone!!
At no time in the past five years did the CDA object to the sale of the apartments, or warn the public that their investment was in any way at risk. The “landmark” judgment declared that the investors took a risk, stating that, “the victims also did not make queries from the Authority.” The irony is that the purchaser was expected to make “queries” from the same Authority that was deemed to have acted in blatant disregard of regulation. The perception that the purchasers didn’t conduct due diligence is also inaccurate as many of them were provided assurances by the CDA that the project was genuine and had an approved plan. There was also no objection to the advertisements placed by the Ministry of Defense declaring its intention to invest in this project. Furthermore, it is beyond comprehension that such a high-visibility project under construction for the last five years, in full view of the Presidency, Prime Minister Secretariat, the judiciary and all the country’s top political and administrative decision-makers, could possibly be a scam.
The media needs to ask some hard questions. The Judge went far beyond his remit to uphold the sanctity of plans and blue prints, which surely need to be modified in keeping with the demands of a modern capital. There is nothing sacrosanct about the Master Plan which is being safeguarded as a Greek mythology on which a whole belief system is founded, and as if society would collapse without it. Surely the Government’s pride of performance, the Metro bus was not envisaged in the Master Plan. Also to give the Ordinance of 1960 as pre-eminent a status as the Judgment of the IHC does and treat it as one which should be frozen in time and no amendments allowed, is to miss the point of such Plans and Ordinances entirely. The original Master Plan which is being guarded so reverentially has in fact been modified many times before. According to this “infallible” Master Plan this spot was originally meant for a highway.
The fact is that an asset has been created in a prime location. This asset was created by the hard earned income of people like me and the other 239 investors, which include both citizens and the Pakistani Diaspora, an already embattled community, fighting prejudice and the hysteria unleashed by a hostile and increasingly anti-Muslim world. This asset belongs to us. All of us have diligently been paying the instalments for the last several years to build a home. Is the half-complete building to stand in its current unfinished stage on the very spot designated to mark the 50th anniversary celebration of the nation’s birth and become a permanent black mark? Is the building to be demolished and represent the unfulfilled promises that so many people experience as citizens of this country on an on-going basis? Just when you think that you can hope again in this beleaguered State, we are dealt another death-blow due to poor governance. The One Constitution building should be regularized according to the established processes and handed over to its rightful owners. This is the only sensible course of action to be followed. It will be a travesty of justice if it is taken away from the people whose money help built it and given to some State project as is rumoured. We are also watching what happens. Make no mistake. We are not about to stand in the one Window operation of CDA for a dole out of compensation.
The issue is not one of simply a building and who owns it. It is about much larger issues. How will the State protect its citizens and build the trust of its business community. This is a plea to the politicians and the judiciary to please deliver justice on your watch. When the sanctity of written or unwritten agreements is broken and trust and compact with the citizens and investors is broken it comes at a heavy price. Whatever is the motivation behind trying to kill this project don’t go down this path. You may succeed in taking away the building but it will come at a price no Pakistani will be able to afford in the long-term. Your short-term gain will come at a heavy price to this nation. Believe me, I have just spent three weeks in Iraq and I have seen how the fourth largest oil producing country in the World has slipped into anarchy and chaos. It started exactly like this. The country slipped into an abyss because its leader’s perpetuated one wrong after another until no one could distinction right from wrong or truth form lies. This led to the unravelling of the entire fabric of society and the State. No Iraqi is willing to invest in his own country and the country is languishing in poverty. We have been on this tragic path before. Let’s let not go down this path again. It is a sobering thought but is time to be sober.
