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| Selective morality |
| Malik Muhammad Ashraf |
| What will be ultimate impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to declare the NRO null and void ab initio on the political destiny of the country cannot be predicted at this moment. But what is remarkable about this decision is that the government has accepted the decision ungrudgingly— notwithstanding the fact that some of the ministers and even the President will be affected by it—and also expressed its resolve to implement it in letter and spirit. It also did the same regarding the Supreme Court decision of 31st July and made earnest efforts to implement it.
This is a healthy break from the past, when the governments not only pressurized the judiciary to get the decisions of their own choice but in certain cases also physically intimidated and attacked it when it dared to give decisions against their wishes. The government also exhibited remarkable political acumen by allowing the NRO to lapse, respecting the opinion of its allies and political leadership in the opposition, in the best tradition of its declared policy of mutual understanding and reconciliation; the reason for not defending NRO in the Supreme Court.
There is no doubt that the NRO was a discriminatory act and also a violation of the article 25 of the constitution that mandates equality of all citizens and guarantees equal protection for them under the law. Therefore, seen from the legal perspective, the Supreme Court decision is beyond any reproach. It was very much expected of an independent judiciary. But the fact remains that despite all the legal infirmities, NRO did provide a new lease of life to democracy in the country. The present democratic set-up actually emerged from the womb of NRO. It was because of the NRO that the exiled political leadership was able to return and participate in the elections which eventually led to the deposition of the dictator. The NRO proved a blessing in disguise. It did provide us a way forward, including the independence of judiciary that is, so crucial to the health and progress of a society.
There are no two opinions about the fact that corruption has eaten into our moral fabric like a termite and is the biggest impediment to our progress as a democratic entity. It needs to be eliminated or at least checked in its tracks to the best possible. At the same time, it is also important to have a futuristic approach by unshackling us from the past legacies. From this perspective, it would have been better had the Supreme Court shown the same pragmatism that it demonstrated in its decision of 31st July by protecting the democratic system and the judgments made by the courts established under PCO. The court in its order regarding the judgments given by PCO judges had said “Any judgments delivered or orders made or any decrees passed by any bench of the Supreme Court or any bench of the High Courts which comprised or which included the afore-described judges whose appointments had been declared void ab initio, are protected on the principle laid down in Malik Asad’s Case”.
Similarly the Supreme Court, While declaring the NRO ultra vires, could have given protection to the benefits derived by all concerned under the same principle, as was done in its earlier decision. The decision on NRO, despite being legally right, has undoubtedly scuppered our efforts to move forward with a renewed zeal to tackle the challenges confronting the nation.
If we scrutinize the sequence of events, culminating in the quashing of the NRO by the Supreme Court, one perforce has to look at the conspiracy theory propounded by a renowned journalist in his article on July 22, 2009, in which he insinuated that the powers that be have scripted an exit strategy for President Zardari according to which Supreme Court would be the main character in setting in motion the process for Zardari’s removal and that the process has already begun with the exoneration of Mian Nawaz Sharif from all the charges and convictions, to be followed by the disqualification of the PCO judges and ultimately the quashing of NRO. While one cannot say anything with certainty about the existence of such a conspiracy, but the prophetic accuracy with which he predicted the unfolding of the events, is absolutely amazing.
If the conspiracy did exist at all, as claimed by him, he probably deliberately avoided mentioning the role of a certain section of the media including himself in the implementation of that strategy. In fact, he himself has been the leading figure in kick staring the smear campaign against Zardari and repeatedly creating doubts about his survival and proving leads to the media to have a swipe at the person of the President.
To begin with minus one formula was bandied around, followed by the appearance of the discredited spying agents and undue publicity accorded to their convulsions, stories about unsubstantiated corruption in the higher echelons of the government and eventually the media hype about NRO.
The focus of all these endeavours was to discredit the person of the President and to portray him in abysmal colours. It would perhaps not be wrong to infer from this campaign that the media unfortunately played a leading role in the witch-hunt spree against President Zardari, completely ignoring the fact that most of the cases against him were a sequel to political vendetta and were never proved in a court of law.
It is interesting to note that a person privy to a meeting in jail between Zardari and Senator Saif ur Rehman has revealed in a current affairs programme of a private channel that the latter apologized from Zardari for the cases instituted against him saying that he was under tremendous pressure to do so. Zardari remained incarcerated for 13 years without any conviction in violation of the fundamental rights. The media neglected all these aspects and preferred to rely on the perceptions rubbed in by his political opponents and the military dictator to grill the man for the crimes that were never proved. In doing so it completely ignored the fact that a person is not guilty until he is proved to be so in a court of law.
Corruption is an all pervasive cancer in our society and there is absolutely no escape from the fact that the politicians, generals, bureaucrats and even the media which likes to speak from a higher moral pedestal have taken their due share from this plunder. One would have welcomed the initiative and the sincerity of the media in highlighting the corruption if it had created the same hype regarding corruption cases like money laundering case against Sharif brothers, use of state funds by ISI to create IJI which was admitted by General Aslam Beg in the court, legalized corruption by NAB through plea bargains, writing-off of loans since Zia era, non-payment of income tax by major media organizations on the income derived from government advertisements and above all the clandestine connections of some media men with different agencies and political outfits.
It is equally amazing to hear calls for President Zardari to resign by his political opponents, especially by PML-N stalwarts maintaining that he had no moral authority to rule the country after the verdict of the Supreme Court. Patriotism and morality are the weapons of last resort for the hypocrites and the first bolt hole for the scoundrels in Pakistan. They are used by our politicians as and when they suit their interests. This selective morality itself speaks for their ill intentions.
One may ask them, where was their morality when they attacked the Supreme Court? Why did they not speak up when Mian brothers continuously lied with the nation about the existence of a deal with Musharraf until the Saudis themselves spilled the beans? Why do they morally not consider it appropriate for Mian brothers to have the money laundering charges against them properly investigated ?
Having said that for argument sake, it is however, my earnest view that reopening of these past scandals and corruption cases is not going to help the national cause. It will be a mere wastage of time and financial resources, besides the unhealthy fall out from this exercise. Pakistan is faced with existentialist threat from the phenomenon of terrorism. There are many other grave challenges in the political and economic arena like the repeal of the 17th amendment, provincial autonomy and hardships faced by the masses that need to be addressed on priority basis. The government and all the political forces, instead of locking horns on non-issues need to work honestly to take the country out of the dangers that it faces. This is a defining moment for the nation. The only way forward is to let the bygones be bygones and make a new beginning. A beginning to strengthen democracy and thwarting the designs of the forces inimical to this cherished goal of the nation. A beginning to eliminate avenues of corruption and ultimately the possibilities of NROs in the future.
ashpak10@gmail.com |
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