Editorial

The other shoe drops

All too often, sloppy procedurals end up thwarting the the cause of justice. Not this time, we trust

Editorial August 27, 2015

It is now for the law enforcement agencies and not just the FIA to make sure that the detention of Dr Asim is procedurally watertight. PHOTO: PID

Dr Asim Hussain is not having a good week. Until two days ago, he was chairman of the Sindh Higher Education Commission, and is also a former federal minister. His life-changing moment came when a meeting he was chairing was interrupted by a dozen men in plain clothes identifying themselves as belonging to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). He was taken away to an undisclosed venue for questioning. Matters did not improve when an anti-terrorism court on August 27 remanded Dr Asim for 90 days in Rangers custody. The Rangers contended to the court that they had credible information about the involvement of Dr Asim in terrorist activities, as well as embezzlement of funds.

On the same day as Dr Asim was having his collar felt, two other PPP luminaries were issued with non-bailable arrest warrants by a separate anti-terrorism court. Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former federal minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim are in the sights and the judge has ordered them to appear before him on September 10. Once again, it was the FIA that was the driving force behind the actions against these political heavyweights, and there is a distinct impression that somebody somewhere has decided to take the gloves off.

This is the first time in the context of the ongoing Karachi operation that senior figures from the PPP, close confidantes of former president Asif Ali Zardari, and in one case reportedly also close to the leadership of the MQM, have been detained. These actions come after protracted and shrill complaints from MQM leaders that it was they and their innocent membership that were the targets of the law-enforcement agencies, other parties being let off lightly or ignored. That claim has to a degree been punctured by the detention of Dr Asim. It is now for the law-enforcement agencies and not just the FIA to make sure that the detention of Dr Asim is procedurally watertight, and that the evidence to be presented in a court of law is unequivocal. All too often, sloppy procedurals end up thwarting the the cause of justice. Not this time, we trust.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2015.

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COMMENTS (2)

Bairooni Haath | 8 years ago | Reply So after MQM, it is the PPP's turn. Will it be PML next, or PTI. I still remember how hard Pakistanis celebrated when the last Messiah, Gen. Pervez Musharraf descended from his Armored Personnel Vehicle and took command of the country. History was never a very strong Pakistani subject.

Salman - SK | 8 years ago | Reply "it was the FIA that was the driving force behind the actions against these political heavyweights" This pronouncement as part of your Editorial does not give me much hope. Even one with rudimentary knowledge of this country is sufficiently aware as to who the driving force is behind the recent quasi-serious efforts to address corruption and loot in our lawless nation. Only the Media and the Intelligentsia of this country can exert consistent vocal pressure to ensure "procedurally watertight" prosecution of the guilty. If history is any indication, I would not hold my breath for this to happen.

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