Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: In an unexpected challenge to the writ of the government on Monday, the Rangers denied Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and other cabinet members entry to the Judicial Complex on the occasion of the hearing of graft cases filed by NAB against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

After a news item published in some papers on Saturday that cabinet members might not be allowed entry to the court premises, meetings were held between court officials and the civil administration on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry sources. In the meeting, a list of select group of journalists and PML-N leaders, including some ministers, was finalised with mutual consent who would be allowed to accompany the ousted premier.

Subsequently, the selected journalists were issued passes and were directed to take their seats in the court by 8 am on the day of the hearing. And they did.

What happened afterwards was quite unexpected and appalling not only for the journalists but for the citizens watching the process with interest. The Rangers took over the judicial complex with full force. Not only the journalists who had taken their seats in the court were asked by the Rangers to leave, the PML-N leaders and even the lawyers were barred from entering the premises. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, when stopped by the Rangers – a force under his command – asked if it was a banana republic or a constitutional state. He pledged on camera to sort the ‘culprit’ out or resign for he could not remain a puppet minister and would not allow a ‘state within state’.

Around 200 Rangers personnel took over the judicial complex leaving the judges and the civil administration shell shocked. None of them knew who ordered Rangers on the scene. The interior minister, when asked for the commander of Rangers, a serving Brigadier, he reportedly escaped the scene. Even chief commissioner, who is the only authority to call Rangers, had no idea about the situation. Till the filing of this report, there was no clarification from the Rangers to explain the situation.

Meanwhile, a group of media persons met the accountability court judge who explained that court had never called the Rangers nor it had any authority to directly call in the forces without the knowledge of the civil administration. The judge regretted the inconvenience and courteously told the media persons that he would personally go to the entry gate in future to receive the journalists.

Later in the day, an internal letter written by senior superintendent of police to the deputy commissioner mysteriously emerged. The letter, addressed to the deputy commissioner, was dated Sunday, October 1, and copied to IGP, joint secretary to the ministry of interior, DIG Police HQ, AIG Police (Operations) and Commander Panjnad Rangers Islamabad. It carried a request to deploy Rangers for the security duty on the occasion of the hearing but with a proviso that the force would not deal with public while being on duty. The request was, however, rejected by the DC office and the letter remained on DC’s table with no further action taken. The SSP or even the court was not authorised to order the deployment of the Rangers as per the law. Who then asked Rangers to take over the court building remains an unresolved question so far.

In the backdrop of these factual details, it remains an enigma as to what objective was achieved through this ill-thought, immature, desperate and rogue step? If the court, the city administration, the police and the interior ministry were all oblivious of the authority who deployed the paramilitary force, the strange act remains a whodunit, which needs investigation.

Even if it is proved somehow (just like a post-dated letter was efficiently leaked to media when the noise gained enough loudness) that the Rangers was deployed on police’s request, why did the Rangers change the arrangement agreed by the court and the civil administration a day earlier? Why the journalists who were granted entry passes were told to leave? Why the interior minister was humiliated? Why the commander of Rangers did not respond when the interior minister – his boss – asked for him? Why no clarification came from Rangers till late at night?

If indeed an allegation by Imran Khan that this was a drama staged by the interior minister is correct, what stopped Rangers to contact the ministry and come clean? The media proxies of those who can’t be named and the political parties – the PTI and the PPP – who are leaving no stone unturned to offer their backs to the unseen powers can keep trying and turning it against the ruling PML-N, but the fact is that defending this kind of highhandedness would haunt these parties too for a long time. Just like Nawaz Sharif has been made to taste his own medicine right now. Only eight years ago, he was standing in front of cameras and urging the police officials to challenge the writ of the PPP government before his rally demanding restoration of the chief justice of Supreme Court.

The boomerang is not the copyright of PML-N. It would come back to every future government. If a state institution is going rogue, stopping it is what the law, the democracy and, above all, the patriotism demand. All the seen and unseen powers must understand now that this absolute impunity for all kinds of highhandedness can’t go unnoticed and unchallenged for eternity. The world is watching and the world is judging us. You can’t play Oct 12 in different shapes and manners.

Published in Daily Times, October 3^rd 2017.