- All that is wrong
Nothing better than the Asghar Khan case to highlight all that is wrong with practically all crucial state institutions of Pakistan. Remember this case hit the headlines once again when the Panama scandal was all the rage, and everybody was talking about independence of judiciary, superiority of civilian government, the virtues of democracy, and all that. Still nothing came of the one case that clearly exposed the age-old nexus between the establishment and a bunch of our most senior politicians even though much of the main cast is still alive and very well.
The Supreme Court must now take urgent notice of FIA’s excuses like missing bank data and refusal of certain main parties to present some of the most important evidence. For one thing, banking transactions do not fade away with time like the people undertaking them. And for another, how difficult could it be for a judiciary fighting for the truth and democrats leaving no stone unturned for the victory of civilian government to make key people talk and dig out the evidence? Even as the recent Saqib Nisar court went into overdrive, it could not manage to give proper attention to such a landmark case, with amounts to acknowledging the court’s reach despite all the headlines.
FIA’s statements, and the response from the government as well as judiciary, indicate that this might be the last we will hear of this case for a while. Let’s not forget that it has lingered on for decades. It seems the age old maxim, that the more things change the more they remain the same, applies perfectly to our system of governance. For all the impressive claims about rejuvenating, finally, state institutions, it is clear that we remain where we were all those years ago.