What destroys a society is not when men of poor means resort to unfair means to make do but when men of high intellect and great opportunities choose to put their skills in place for manipulating the system to serve their own designs
Finally, an accused of top stature confesses to appalling crimes. The doctor admits to doctoring hospital facilities to facilitate criminals. The response to this confession is mixed. The media raised it as breaking news. The PPP dismissed it as a confession under duress. The MQM typically denies any linkage vehemently. The opposition parties — the PML-N and PTI — maintained their friendly and hostile postures. The overall reaction was lukewarm, not reflecting the seriousness of the admission. The admission is of medically treating people involved in terrorism. The confession does not touch upon the cases of K-Electric exemptions where ruling party ministers were involved. Thus, it is a confession but a partial one that gives enough space to accusers to be found right, yet gives enough room to the opposers to dismiss it as more of buckling under pressure than serious evidence.
Crime flourishes when justice perishes. That is exactly what we have seen in the country. We have seen innumerable confessions of culprits who have named many people as masterminds or accomplices in ghastly operations but these confessions are either dismissed as being planted or as vengeful and not much is heard after a while. This is normally the case when small timers point fingers at big names. If the media and public continue to highlight an issue for some time, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is formed and then, depending on how high the name is, the JIT is scripted to suit the desired decision. In Dr Asim’s case it is different. Dr Asim is a high-up himself, who was not just obeying orders out of pressure but is a very close friend of the ex-president and, thus, if he is saying something it should be taken in a different context.
Dr Asim also symbolises another segment of society that is actually more responsible for what has gone wrong with this country. He has a dream CV for any aspiring profile of an ideal Pakistani. He is an educated professional, with skills, resources and opportunities to make an extraordinary name and money based on his background. Dr Asim Hussain received his early education from the Karachi Grammar School and later enrolled in the Cadet College, Petaro. After serving a brief period in the army, Dr Asim Hussain retired as a lieutenant and chose to pursue an MBBS degree. He graduated from Dow Medical College in 1978 and went to Europe for further studies. He successfully cleared his MCPS in 1981 and continued his studies in Vienna, Austria. After returning to Pakistan, he entered politics and that is when his career took the fast track. He became a senator, advisor and federal minister for petroleum in President Zardari’s cabinet.
Thus, what destroys a society is not when men of poor means resort to unfair means to make do but when men of high intellect and great opportunities choose to put their skills in place for manipulating the system to serve their own designs. The damage that large-scale mindless wrongdoers cannot do is outdone by a few astute intellectuals whose polished and groomed demeanour keeps on deceiving and defeating any attempts to nail them down. Thus, Dr Asim is not a Faisal Mota, Tahir Lamba or Saulat Mirza. Dr Asim’s arrest and the ensuing confession is an opportunity for the country to crack down on the big fish that are not only not coming into the net but have traversed local sea shores and gone overseas. The question is whether this rather indecent confession by the seemingly decent doctor will be a passage to the crackdown on the high up ‘untouchables’. Looking back at history, the chances seem bleak.
Let us look at another indecent confession by an apparently decent man. It is Ishaq Dar and his affidavit on Sharif’s money laundering case. Again, Mr Dar has impeccable credentials. His accounting background and his loyalty to the Sharifs, which resulted in their children tying the knot, is legendary. His loyalty to the Sharif family is enough to make the Prime Minister (PM) condone his consistent destruction of the economy and award him not only the finance ministry but also charge of as many as 42 committees. But it is the same man who gave a recorded statement in the year 2000 on Sharif committing money laundering. According to legal experts, the senator’s deposition affidavit at that time was an “irrevocable statement” as it had been recorded under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). In that statement, Ishaq Dar accused Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif of money laundering in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case. At one point in the 43-page statement, Mr Dar said that on the instructions of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, “I opened two foreign currency accounts in the name of Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi with the foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family in the Bank of America by signing as Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi.” He said that all instructions to the bank in the name of these two persons were signed by him under the orders of “original depositors”, namely Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
This confession has become history in the archive dungeons of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and has been gathering so much dust that the statement has been erased from NAB’s case menu. The honourable gentleman who made this irrevocable confession continues to represent the country’s best economic wizardry. These are no ordinary confessions. These are confessions made by the high and mighty against the high and mighty. These are confessions with legal evidence and documented proof. These are confessions made in front of credible witnesses. These confessions are not made by vengeful enemies but loyal best friends. Yet the chances of them becoming turning points in our justice system are as substantial as the Orange Metro Line train removing illiteracy in Punjab. As was the case in Ishaq Dar’s confession already, Dr Asim’s confession has been rejected as being under duress. One might ask what sort of loyalties and relationships are these that crack under pressure. That may be too deep and philosophical a question for a political culture where the basic principle is that there are no friends and no enemies in politics, rather, just common interests of uncommon people who share the mindset of turning might into right.
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