Facing terrorism, corruption charges: Dr Asim breaks silence, shares untold stories

Judge extends former petroleum minister's remand by five days

KARACHI: Former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain broke his silence for the first time in the past three months, only to deny all the charges levied against him.

During a hearing at the Sindh High Court on Monday, Dr Asim vehemently denied his involvement in terrorism or in facilitating terrorists as the administrative judge for anti-terrorism courts, Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, allowed him to speak.

"When I was in custody, law enforcers took me to my own hospital handcuffed," he said. "They made me sit in the intensive-care unit and went about their business." Dr Asim later found out through the media that he was reported to have pointed out a 'crime scene' during this visit.

Dr Asim has been accused of facilitating terrorism by providing treatment to terrorists — militants working for political and religious groups — who were injured in shootouts with the law enforcers or with rival groups. "Later, the law enforcers would tell the media that I pointed out the rooms where such militants were treated," he said. "In fact, I was neither asked anything nor did I tell them anything myself."

The contentions made in the FIR also did not sit well with Dr Asim, who claimed he was being victimised for reasons he could not describe. He claimed that he had become a matter of 'ego' for someone who wants to see him behind bars.

"Mine is just a case of victimisation," he told Justice Phulpoto. "I was never involved in any wrongdoings yet I have a pile of allegations against me. The real issue [of the state] is with someone else."

Dr Asim, who was serving as the chairperson for the Sindh Higher Education Commission, was taken into custody in late August from his office in Clifton. A day after his arrest, he was detained for a period of three months by the Rangers. "I went with the paramilitary force personnel voluntarily because I believed that I will face no harm if I am innocent," he said.

Interrogation

When he was in custody, Dr Asim recalled how some 'unidentified persons' asked the Rangers to hand him over to them if they wanted him to reveal everything. He claimed that he was tortured physically and mentally during detention. "I am a heart patient and I have a 90-year-old mother who is ailing," he said. "My wife is on the fourth stage of cancer."

When asked about a recent statement given by his subordinate, Ziauddin Hospital's deputy managing director Dr Yusuf Sattar, Dr Asim chose to question the judge what he will do if he was held accountable for a sin committed by his subordinate. "If your peon commits a crime, will you be held responsible for it?" he asked the judge, at which his counsel, Amir Raza Naqvi, pinched him to make him calm down. Dr Asim maintained that Dr Sattar's statement was under duress. "Even your peon will speak against you, if tortured that badly."

Dr Asim also shared his fears of being killed in an 'encounter'.

Proceedings

Monday was the third hearing that he appeared for since he was remanded into police custody after his preventive detention expired.

The newly appointed investigation officer asked the judge for an extension in his remand for further questioning. The defence counsel opposed this request on grounds that the suspect has already spent months in custody during which the paramilitary force, the police and the accountability bureau interrogated him. Dr Asim's attorney asked the judge to tell the investigators to bring before the court the evidence they have collected in the past three months.

Meanwhile, the Rangers' and National Accountability Bureau's lawyers attended the hearing but did not argue after Dr Asim's statement. The judge granted the police remand for five more days and sought a progress report at the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th,  2015.