Pakistan Press On Media and Crime in Pakistan, Custody of Children and FATF: New Age Islam's Selection, 24 October 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
24 October
2020
• Media and Crime in Pakistan
By Zubeida Mustafa
• Separation of Parents: Custody of Children
By Huzaima Bukhari
• Reading the FATF Laws - Part I
By Barrister Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha
• Reading the FATF Laws - Part II
By Barrister Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha
• The Three-Year Itch
By Irfan Husain
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Media and Crime in Pakistan
By Zubeida Mustafa
23 Oct 2020
SEX crimes
and child abuse are reported to be on the rise in Pakistan. So are mental
illnesses and the reach of the media. This is not a coincidence for the
correlation between them has been widely recognised the world over. The fact
that has however not been generally understood, in Pakistan at least, is that
many of these evils have always existed but are now being reported more
extensively, unethically and unprofessionally with a lot of bias. Since the
reportage is generally flawed it can be quite disturbing for a young
view/listener/reader.
One may ask
what has mental health got to do with it especially in children? There was a
time when adults were very careful about what they spoke before children.
Parents actually exercised ‘censorship’ on images whether in print or projected
electronically. The simple reason for this caution was that a child’s mind is
sensitive to all that it is exposed to till quite an age. How it behaves in
life is to a great extent determined by childhood experiences. For instance, it
is well-known that many of those who commit sex crimes have suffered sex abuse
themselves in childhood, have experienced violence or have witnessed it. Add to
this list the youth and adolescents who are exposed to pornography habitually.
All this
has collectively reinforced the patriarchal culture and mindset of our society
that has become another factor in creating the unhealthy environment we are
living in. One wonders to what extent such exposure is leading to mental
illnesses as described by psychiatrists a number of whom spoke at the seminar
organised by the Pakistan Association of Mental Health on the occasion of World
Mental Health Day. In the same vein, one could well ask whether it wouldn’t be
better to go in for the preventive approach rather than resort to drugs when
patients complain of a disorder. Creating awareness and group counselling are
also vital measures that must be encouraged. Actually health needs to be
considered as a state of well-being rather than the absence of disease.
The time
has come to emphasise the importance of healthy attitudes to negate the
debilitating impact of social media and the sensationalism spread by mainstream
media and communication technology. They could well destroy the world. They
have replaced human interaction — both formal and informal, professional and
familial — that were once the mainstay of emotional bonding, that underpins
mental health.
Healthy
attitudes are necessary to overcome media’s negative effects.
But should
the remedy be the banning of media outlets? Such arbitrary measures do not
really help at all. They create resentment and controversy. There are two
approaches that must be adopted. One is to sensitise the public as well as the
mediapersons to the crisis of sex crimes and violence against women. Mental
health professionals should also alert people to the commercial interests of
political vested interests, religious lobbies and the media.
It is
important to explain to the public how those guilty of creating sensationalism
hope to profit by their wrongdoings in terms of money and power. Their
ambitions can be neutralised by using institutions such as schools, colleges
and universities, the judiciary, police and other such organisations to
sensitise young people to the gravity of these issues and educate them about
strategies that could help.
This is a
very sensitive matter that cannot be brushed aside as delay itself would be
destabilising for the environment. Needless to say, good education based on an
understanding of the adolescent and with provision for sports and games and a
curriculum based on life skills-based education can take the youth far.
The second
approach that must be addressed is to remind people about the dangers of
unregulated freedom to youngsters at a time when they are adolescents and
entering an age when hormonal changes are taking place and when they need
emotional stability and family support. They are personally entangled in an
internal hormonal battle themselves. These are challenging times for parents
and it is the latter who should have the major role in their offspring’s
upbringing.
Social
media has also opened the doors to an influx of misinformation and distorts
events as the media has not been trained or guided on how to report crime and
terrorism. Guidelines and workshops could help. But bans as the recent one on
TikTok (now reversed) are always harmful.
Instead of
banning programmes, Pemra should issue guidelines on how news should be covered
without any display of violence. The chat shows full of screaming anchors and
speakers also need to tone down their noise levels. Even political leaders who
use abusive language should be mindful of the image they project. Why can’t
Pemra insist on more cultural and socially educative programmes that have a
soothing effect on the spectators to be telecast?
https://www.dawn.com/news/1586580/media-and-crime
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Separation of Parents: Custody of Children
By Huzaima Bukhari
October 24,
2020
“Instead, I
think over the years we have cut the strength of marriage and relationships by
the law and weakened the institution. We have tried to deal with relationships
with no-fault divorce, with child custody, with so many other avenues; and it
has not helped”-Murphy Timothy
Parenting
is a serious business that should not be taken casually. In our society, as
soon as a couple gets married, the next thing everyone wants is news of a baby
on the way. There are a number of theories in circulation with regard to
bearing children as soon as possible. The elders believe that children,
especially sons are means to strengthen the bond of marriage besides expanding
the clan and carrying on the name of the family. They call them the link to the
chain that binds a man and a woman. (God knows whatever happened to love and
affection!) For the impoverished people, a rapid production of children is a
means to increasing income of the family. Since women are generally fraught
with maternal instincts, they want a living doll to cuddle and nurture.
According to an old folk’s weird tale, a smart way to tame an aggressive woman
and force her to remain at home is to keep her pregnant; as if she would bear
robots and not human beings.
Despite its
encumbrances and accompanying pain, delivering a child is much easier than
raising it what to talk of taking quality care of more than one. To make
matters worse, when struggling immature young adults or even mature but
destitute men and women are forced to or volunteer to become parents, the
consequences are unimaginable. Again, this may still be tolerable to some
extent if the marriage and household remain intact but when matters come to
divorce/separation, the repercussions are enormous, particularly with respect
to minor children. They are the principal/worst sufferers in such an event.
They are dragged in courts over disputes related to custody or child maintenance.
At a tender age when a warm, loving and secure home environment is necessary
for their rearing, they are subjected to humiliation and uncertainty that can
permanently impact their personalities adversely.
In a
patriarchal society where the male is supposed to be the bread-winner, it is
natural for courts to prefer handing over custody to the father but now that
women are economically more independent this should no longer be a valid
consideration
In their
enthusiasm to encourage couples in having babies, people often tend to ignore
the dark sides of a broken marriage. For two human beings, living together
under the same roof and sharing a life, involves first of all, love and respect
followed by understanding and tolerating one another’s imperfections along with
the capability of dealing with various problems in an amenable manner. These
factors may vary in different family set-ups but they all boil down to one
thing-the determination to carry on with a relationship under all
circumstances. This alone is essential in laying the ground for becoming
parents and raising better human beings.
In the
words of James E. Faust: “To be a good father and mother requires that the
parents defer many of their own needs and desires in favor of the needs of
their children. As a consequence of this sacrifice, conscientious parents
develop a nobility of character and learn to put into practice the selfless
truths taught by the Savior Himself.”
Unfortunately,
certain events can lead to a complete turnaround of this idealistic situation.
Not everyone is blessed with the comfort of a steady relationship and a safe
home. People change and that is enough to change everything, either for good or
for bad. As it is, these days the rate of divorce is going up. There is really
nothing wrong in couples parting ways if they are unable to get along because
after all, they are tied together in a contract which can be terminated any
time but whether they like it or not, the common link between them constitutes
the children-what would be their fate if the parents separate? The answer could
be in probabilities of a number of eventualities depending upon manner of
settlement, whether amicable or through nasty legal battles. Judges could
decide stay with mother or father with visitation rights or alternative
duration of stay with either, or custody is granted to a guardian other than
the biological parent etc.
The problem
in Pakistan’s context relates to clash of multiple legislative concepts. On the
one hand, there exists laws promulgated by the British and on the other there
is Muslim personal law, both having minimal rules to arrive at uniform
decisions in the variety of cases that appear before a court of law.
Consequently, the courts enjoy vast discretion therefore issues related to
custody have many different outcomes. A detailed study might reveal that the
underlying principle on which reliance is made appears to be “the best interest
of the child.”
An
eye-opening paper on several decisions made by Pakistani judges has been
written by Dr. Mudasra Sabreen (law_on_the_custody.pdf) where she concludes:
“The dearth of statutory provisions relating to custody gives wide discretion
to courts in matters relating to child custody. As a result, the courts often
render inconsistent judgments, ensuing in ambiguity in custody disputes. The
Guardian and Wards Act 1890 was promulgated during the colonial period, whereas
courts in contemporary Pakistan rely on the principles of Islamic Family Law
(Muslim Personal Law). It is, therefore, imperative to consolidate the myriad
of laws relating to the rights of children and ensure that ‘the best interests’
of the minor are afforded precedence over personal law. Efforts have been made
to reform the law related to custody in Pakistan but no consolidated statute has
been made which gives detailed rules regarding custody of the child. Such a
statute will stifle the wide discretion exercised by the courts, thus,
resulting in consistent decision making which is the very objective of any
legal system.”
In a
patriarchal society where the male is supposed to be the bread-winner, it is
natural for courts to prefer handing over custody to the father but now that
women are economically more independent this should no longer be a valid
consideration. Pakistan is signatory to The Convention on the Rights of the
Child 1989 which presses upon the sole idea of a child’s best interest, whether
this would be possible in the event of custody with the father or mother.
Besides, there are many factors which have to be taken into account and which
are bound to be ranging from case to case. A few examples would be character of
the parents, financial disposition, intentions to re-marry, social mobility,
religious beliefs, citizenship of a particular country and sometimes, even
preference of the minor for one parent or the other.
As far as
diversity of decisions is concerned, judges cannot be blamed for not observing
some set patterns since there could occur judicial imbalance causing emotional
trauma to affected parties. Therefore, it is important to lay down some
guidelines to facilitate fair judgements on the basis of applying different
checks to ensure a child’s benefit, not just in terms of material tools but
also its psychological health and emotional satisfaction, yet, simultaneously providing
justice to either parent.
-----
Huzaima Bukhari, lawyer and author, is an
Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
https://dailytimes.com.pk/681136/separation-of-parents-custody-of-children/
-----
Reading the FATF Laws - Part I
By Barrister Mohsin
Nawaz Ranjha
October 23,
2020
The writer
is a member of the National Assembly and former minister of state for
parliamentary affairs.
Presumption
of innocence, access to fair trial, and protection of constitutional rights
make up the Golden Thread that holds the multicultural population of Pakistan
together; everything falls apart if you take any ingredient out of the
equation.
As a
legislator for almost a decade, and as a member of the legal fraternity for
fifteen years, I firmly believe that the first responsibility incumbent upon
any state is to protect the rights of its citizens. Unfortunately, the everyday
reality around us is starkly different. The incumbent federal government is
adamant on overreaching its constitutional bounds, and thereby shrinks the
space for civil liberties and human rights.
My argument
is to the bowing of the incumbent government, foregoing the civil liberties of
its citizens, before the international pressures during negotiation regarding
exclusion of Pakistan’s name from the grey list. The present government’s claim
of its victory after completion of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
legislation by parliament is actually a retrieval from the protected rights of
our citizens provided in the constitution.
There has
been a lot of hue and cry in parliament, electronic/print and social media
regarding the legislation related to 40 recommendations made by the FATF. These
recommendations were supposedly regarding the improvement of monitoring systems
for Anti Money Laundering (AML) /Counter Finance Terrorism (CFT) measures in
Pakistan’s financial markets, regulatory bodies, and others ancillary thereto.
These recommendations resulted in all together a new legal regime, increasing
the powers of the executive, and thus infringements of the fundamental rights
of the common citizenry. In the series of legislation, parliament has
enacted/amended 11 laws. In the following paragraphs, I have given a summarized
review of each law for the consumption of the general public, as an attempt to
inform them of the recent legislative developments, and how it affects their
lives.
The United
Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Act, 2020: The said amendment Act is
aimed at delegating the power of the federal government, to implement the
Security Council’s resolutions. Under the pretext of aforementioned
“objective”, persons implementing the Act have been given complete immunity
from all legal proceedings, to supposedly ensure proper execution of its
orders, and to achieve the object of the legislation. Prima facie, the
legislation sounds like foreign intervention via proper channels.
The
Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2020: Definition of the term "person"
has been added in the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The new definition includes
‘natural, legal person or body corporate’ in its ambit, resulting thereby in a
dichotomy of punishments for natural person and legal person. Further,
punishments have been made harsher, providing therefore for imprisonment up to
ten years and fine up to Rs5 million for natural persons, and imprisonment not
exceeding ten years and fine upto Rs50 millions for legal persons, found guilty
of aiding and abetting proscriptive organizations. Further, under the new
regime, civil servants shall be deemed to have aided and abetted proscribed
organizations if they are negligent in complying with the provisions of the
Act. In addition to this, liability has been imposed for the violation of the
UN Security Council Resolution Act, 1948, punishment for which is introduced as
ten years imprisonment and Rs25 million rupees fine or with both. Hence, we can
conclude that unusually harsh punishments have been imposed in order to appease
the international community at the cost of the common citizenry.
The
Anti-Terrorism (Second Amendment) Act, 2020: The word 'terrorism' has been
redefined through these amendments, whereof it shall now include ‘any person,
either natural or legal’ instead of an individual, in its ambit. Furthermore,
banks have been restricted from providing financial support to proscribed
person(s), arms licences of proscribed persons are to be cancelled, and all
weapons from such persons are to be confiscated as a result of such. Further,
organization or front-organizations, perpetrating or assisting proscribed
persons or organizations shall be funded and shall be punished accordingly.
Through
these amendments, fine upto Rs25 million for natural person, and upto Rs50
million for legal person, has been fixed for offense of fund-raising and
money-laundering for proscribed organizations. Seizure of property without
notice of any person acting on the direction of a proscribed person is
provided. Further, the joint investigation team formed under the Act has been
empowered to co-opt any additional person from federal and provincial
institutions for investigation. Further, punishment for contravention of an
order to call for information has been increased through the amendments to
three years imprisonment and fine of up upto one million and ten million in
case of natural and legal persons respectively. Resultantly, there shall be an
overreaching of authority and abuse of power by state authority, which is to
result in infringement of the fundamental rights of citizens under the dubious
excuse of ‘accountability’.
The Control
of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2020: Through the said amendment the
concept of 'guilty mind' has been removed from the parent Act, by inserting a
generalizing phrase declaring “no-one shall conceal or disguise any assets by
making false declaration or by employing any other means of concealment”. Any
other means is a very general phrase, and shall result in abuse of authority by
the state.
The Mutual
Legal Assistance (Criminal Matter) Act, 2020: This regularizes any treaty,
agreement, memorandum of understanding, convention or other international
arrangement containing provisions relating to mutual legal assistance in
criminal matters to which Pakistan is a party. The supposed purpose of this Act
is to curtail trans-national organized crimes and improve the effectiveness of
legal instrument and coordination mechanism between countries combating crime
across the borders by way of a central authority with powers exercised by an
executive committee – that is: secretary to the Ministry of Interior, federal
government of Pakistan.
The
executive committee is to regulate procedure for rendering and soliciting
mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, including proceedings relating to
investigation, prosecution, judicial proceedings, identification or tracing of
proceeds or instrumentalities of crime, the determination as to whether a
property is instrument of crime, money laundering or terrorist property, or
corruption etc. The central authority is further empowered to transmit and
receive information relating to criminal matters among nations without prior
notice to the federal government.
Countries
can also make transfer requests for persons serving imprisonment, and requests
for temporary detention. This Act allows the central authority to issue freezing
seizures or confiscation orders on a foreign request, if it deems it
reasonable; it can also refuse mutual legal assistance where it deems
appropriate. There are strong chances that the central authority will infringe
on the fundamental rights of the common citizenry under excuses afforded by
this Act, whereof a number of litigation might result from such too.
The
Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Act, 2020: This law concerns the
registration, administration and monitoring of trusts registered within the
local limits of the Islamabad Capital Territory, in order to cater to the
effective administration, financial monitoring, and evaluation of trusts. The
director of the directorate of labour and industries Islamabad has been given
the authority to keep a register of trusts that shall include all the
information of trust, its trustees and beneficiaries etc. The duties and
responsibilities of the trustee have been introduced in the Act, including
execution of trust, collecting and holding of information, purchasing and
selling, protection of title to trust property, careful dealing with property,
prevention of waste and keeping of accounts etc.
Similarly
the liabilities of trustee has been enunciated including right to reimbursement
of expenses, indemnity, settlement of accounts, variation of investments,
providing of receipts etc. Further the rights and liabilities of beneficiaries
including rights to rent and profits, specific execution, right to inspect and
transfer beneficial interest etc. The chief commissioner of Islamabad has been
given the authority to make rules and exercise arbitrary power to clarify any
confusion arising out of the interpretation of the Act.
To be
continued
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/733387-reading-the-fatf-laws-part-i
-----
Reading the FATF Laws - Part II
By Barrister Mohsin
Nawaz Ranjha
October 24,
2020
Anti-Terrorism
(Third Amendment) Act, 2020: Terror financing is playing a degrading role
against the development of the country and is a subject of major threat to the
external peace of the country and of allies.
This Act
enables law-enforcement authorities to use methods like undercover operations,
controlled delivery, intercepting communications and accessing computer systems
etc, whereby the detention period has been set at 60 days which may be extended
to another 60 days. The opposition had filed an amendment for omission of this
clause, since it is in violation of the fundamental right to privacy of an
individual, but the amendment suggestion wasn’t supported by the government.
Anti-Money
Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2020: anti money-laundering laws have been aimed to
be kept in line with international standards prescribed by the Financial Action
task force (FATF). Exhaustive record-keeping requirements have been explained
to meet FATF requirements, and dissuasive sanctions are also proposed in the
Act. Punishment for money laundering has been set as imprisonment up to ten
years, fine extendable to twenty-five million rupees, and forfeiture of
property, when done by a natural person (directors, partners/employees). In
case of a legal person, the fine may extend up to one hundred million rupees.
A National
Executive Committee, consisting of minister of finance or adviser to the PM on
finance, minister of foreign affairs and others mentioned in Schedule-II, has
been constituted. The Committee is supposed to make recommendations to the
federal government relating to effective implementation of the Act,
determination of offences existing in Pakistan, application of countermeasures
to combat money laundering etc. It may constitute one or more sub-committees
and may delegate or assign its functions to the general committee or a
sub-committee. The proposed aim is to fight money laundering and financing of
terrorism, by issuing necessary directions to the investigating or prosecuting
agencies, seeking reports from competent authorities etc.
A Financial
Monitoring Unit has also been established, which is to be an independent
decision-making authority, having a financial expert as its director general.
Numerous business restrictions have been imposed, including restriction on
conducting business with anonymous customers. Offices working under the Act
have been provided protection from civil or criminal liabilities, which in
effect will result in infringement of rights by those overly powerful officers.
Fundamental rights are being sacrificed at the altar of ‘accountability’.
Islamabad
Capital Territory Waqf Property Act, 2020: this law pertains to management,
administration and supervision of trusts registered within the local limits of
the Islamabad Capital Territory. Its purpose is to cater to effective
administration and financial monitoring and evaluation of waqf property and how
it shall be created and who may create it. The chief commissioner is empowered
to appoint the administrator and deputy administrators for waqf properties.
These properties shall be registered with the chief administrator and the
district collector shall furnish a consolidated annual report of all waqf
properties recorded as waqf during the year, in respect of revenue limits of
ICT to the chief administrator.
During the
lifetime of a waqf, the chief administrator cannot take over and assume the
administrative control, management and maintenance of such waqf property,
except with the consent of such person or persons and the chief administrator.
Through this Act, the chief commissioner is granted the power to sell the waqf
property if needed and the procedure to sell has been discussed in the Act. He
shall keep accounts of income and expenditure. Further, ouster clauses barring
jurisdiction of civil and revenue courts are present too, which subsequently
shall result in abuse of power by executive authority. The powers of the chief
commissioner have been increased to the extent that there is now over
bureaucratization of religious affairs under the purview of this Act.
Companies
(Amendment) Act, 2020: a prohibition on issuance of bearer shares or bearer
share warrants, etc has been imposed. Duty has been imposed on every company to
maintain a register of its ultimate beneficial owners and record their accurate
and updated particulars, while penalty for noncompliance with this is a fine up
to one million rupees, or up to ten million rupees, for natural and legal
persons respectively. This will result in over intervention of the state in the
business sector, and might result in a decline in the growing economy.
Limited
Liability Partnership (Amendment) Act, 2020: a responsibility on limited
liability partnership to maintain and timely update particulars of the ultimate
beneficial owner of any person who is a partner. If it fails to comply with
these requirements, a fine up to one million rupees, if a natural person, and
up to ten million rupees, if limited liability partnership. Excessive
monitoring procedures might discourage businesses, and thereby cause loss to
the economy.
So to
conclude: from the very start, members of the opposition benches in parliament
were of the opinion that these recent legislations will result in providing
extreme power to governmental institutions, and had warned the other side that
it will result in infringement of the common citizenry. It is also a matter of
record that during negotiations with the government’s legal team, members of
the opposition had strongly opposed the introduction of numerous archaic and
anti-people provisions, as a result of which almost 300 provisions in the said
legislations were amended, or deleted. On the matter of infringement of ‘right
to privacy’ and ‘right to fair trial’, both of which are constitutional
guarantees granted to all persons in Pakistan, there was a stand-off between
the opposition and the government, which ultimately resulted in a heated
skirmish between members of both camps.
Already
Pakistan is an over-legislated country; the problem we have is of
implementation and not about legislation. We have opposed four bills outright
in order to exclude our country’s name from the grey list. However, time will
tell whether these laws have been useful to comply with our country’s
international commitments or whether they have only created more difficulties
for the Pakistani business community in terms of abuse, unnecessary red tapes,
over-bureaucratization, bottlenecks and further corruption.
The recent
legislation has seriously undermined constitutional protections afforded to the
citizens of Pakistan in terms of right to fair trial, right to privacy and
right to fair investigation. The said legislation has only resulted in granting
absolute powers to investigation agencies, thereby ousting the jurisdictions of
the honourable courts of the land through various acts.
In its
present form, allegations shall result in giving rise to constitutional
petitions before the superior judiciary reclaiming the rights guaranteed by the
constitution of Pakistan. It is also important to note that similar provisions
to counter the aforementioned proscribed acts were already in the field, in the
shape of legislations pertaining to the Securities & Exchange Commission,
Federal Board of Revenue, as well as the State Bank of Pakistan – which were
already complying with FATF recommendations. Therefore, the recent
introductions of Acts will be nothing more than over-legislative acts in nature.
As a result of the aforementioned, it would give rise to lots of confusion and
conflict between various governmental institutions and also over the question
as to which particular institution shall have legal jurisdiction to entertain
these matters.
Concluded
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/733767-reading-the-fatf-laws-part-ii
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The Three-Year Itch
By Irfan Husain
24 Oct 2020
RECENTLY,
The Guardian ran a two-page article chronicling the details of the UAE
president’s vast property portfolio in London.
The daily
made it clear that there was “no suggestion of any wrongdoing, and owning
property in the UK through shell companies is perfectly legal”. Even The
Guardian has to cover its back from legal action when exposing the rich and
powerful. Incidentally, these facts first emerged during its investigation of
the Panama Papers in 2016. This is the same leak that sealed Nawaz Sharif’s
political fate.
As far as I
know, the media in the UAE — hardly an example of hard-hitting investigative
journalism — has been remarkably quiet. No judge has dared to issue a suo motu
notice. And citizens have not poured out into the streets.
Donald
Trump has committed so many acts verging on corruption that they can’t be
counted here without running out of space. For starters, he has handed over
hundreds of millions to friends in the pharmaceutical industry to develop
anti-Covid vaccines without competitive bids. Nevertheless, he still has a
fighting chance to win a second term.
Allegedly
corrupt rulers have continued to get elected.
In the UK,
Boris Johnson approved a proposal for a walkway across the Thames from the
well-known actress Joanna Lumley without serious discussions with Londoners and
the government that was supposed to part-fund the project. The architect, too,
was signed up without a competition, the normal procedure in government
contracts. Johnson was the mayor of London then, and whiffs of corruption still
fill his CV like a bad smell. And yet he has gone on to become the prime
minister.
There are
many other examples I could cite where allegedly corrupt leaders have continued
to get elected despite apparent venality on a massive scale. Putin is reputed
to be one of the richest men in the world, rising from a mere KGB operative.
Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, isn’t doing too badly, thank you very
much. It was the leak of taped conversations purporting to detail his family’s
money-making ways that caused him to part company with his ideological partner,
Gulen. Hizmet, his vast global network of schools and other social service
institutions, has been under attack since then. The schools run by Hizmet in
Pakistan were shut down after the crackdown. This split caused an attempted
coup in Turkey in which hundreds were killed, and thousands of alleged Gulenists
sacked, jailed or await trial.
In most of
these countries, however, even when corruption has been identified, the baby is
not thrown out with the bathwater. Ultimately, the theory is that it is for the
people to pronounce judgement in a free and transparent vote. Of course,
elections are often rigged by corrupt leaders to protect their illegally
acquired fortunes.
But
Pakistan marches to the beat of a different drummer. Here, we have the
three-year itch. Although the Constitution gives an elected government
five-year terms in office, sections of the establishment, the judiciary, the
media and the public all get fed up of the elected government’s performance
after three years. Generals, of course, get to play far longer innings.
A campaign
is unofficially launched, and drawing-room conversations are dominated by
rumours of the latest scams. Instead of doing his or her job, the elected prime
minister of the day is forced to concentrate on survival. For the last 30
years, this has been the pattern.
As president,
Asif Zardari’s greatest achievement was to complete his term. Apart from
pushing through the 18th Amendment transferring greater powers to the
provinces, there was little he could do apart from fighting off the hostility
of the elements mentioned. When he finally left office, I’m sure he heaved a
sigh of relief.
Imran Khan
is probably finding his prize goal of premiership a bit of a poisoned chalice.
It’s one thing to shout vulgar abuse at opponents when in the opposition, quite
another to actually solve Pakistan’s massive problems of unemployment,
illiteracy and poverty. Oh yes, we can now add Covid-19 and inflation to the
prime minister’s in-tray.
Luckily for
him, some elements have been seen as fairly selective when it comes to deciding
whose neck deserves the next trimming. A nod from the establishment can lead to
the use of a simple device like an iqama to declare a sitting prime minister
unqualified for public office and parliament.
Meanwhile,
the ruling party is currently enjoying freedom from the activation of a law
barring political parties from accepting funding from foreign sources. Time
after time, the Election Commission of Pakistan has declared a deadline for the
submission of data. These dates have passed without an explanation. If it is
established that the PTI did indeed get foreign funding, the crudely
constructed house of cards would come tumbling down.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1586749/the-three-year-itch
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URL: https://newageislam.com/pakistan-press/pakistan-press-media-crime-pakistan,/d/123247
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