NAB’s disrespect for human dignity claims a life
Haunted by the prospect of public humiliation by NAB, Brig (rtd) Asad Munir committed suicide on Friday in Islamabad. Besides being a former army officer, Munir was also a well-informed and balanced columnist and a TV talk show figure. His views on issues related to the Taliban and the war on terror were widely respected.
The lack of professionalism in NAB has led it to rely more on coercive methods than on collecting irrefutable forensic evidence that requires painstaking efforts. Lacking the expertise required for the task, the NAB takes recourse to methods that it believes will force the accused to sing like a canary, take police straight to the secret place where he has hidden his pelf or provide incriminating evidence sufficient enough to prosecute him. While NAB has been accused of torture, it is mostly more of a psychological than physical type. The goal is the same, i.e. to break the will of the detenu
For this NAB fully concentrates on public humiliation of the accused. That he might finally turn out to be innocent is none of NAB’s concerns. A university professor subjected to prolonged interrogation by NAB died during judicial custody. The dead body was taken to hospital in handcuffs. Another outstanding example of public humiliation is that of a Punjab University VC who was taken to the accountability court along with four senior professors, all in handcuffs. As former CJ Nisar remarked while taking suo motu notice of the case, the action amounted to killing their dignity. But this is precisely what NAB wants. Media trial is another tactic to put psychological pressure on the accused again forgetting that finally nothing might be proved against him while the stigma would remain forever.
In a note that he addressed to the CJ before his death Asad Munir explained that he was committing suicide to avoid humiliation of being handcuffed and paraded in front of media. Further that he was giving his life in the hope that the SC would bring positive changes in the system where incompetent people are playing with the life and honour of citizens in the name of accountability.
