Daily Times

Baseless and preposterous is what came to mind when Dr Shahid Masood brought a new twist to the Zainab murder case. According to his source, the suspect Imran Aliwas merely a pawn, who was related to an international ring involved in making objectionable video films of minor children. Had he just stopped at that point, people would have perhaps digested the story with an analgesic tablet. But he decided to go a step further, by claiming that the suspect has thirty-seven or more bank accounts with foreign transactions, involving thousands of dollars and euros. What transpired from there on has been, with utter respect, quite a spectacle for the rest of the world.

You do not need to be a Sherlock Holmes to determine that a suspect like Imran Ali, who is a contract labourer and a part-time reciter of religious hymns is incapable of maintaining foreign currency accounts. He seems to have very limited education, if any, and lacks the ability to deal with complexities of opening and maintaining such accounts. On a very basic and rational level, if he is a part of some alleged syndicate, why would that syndicate trust him with such large sums of money. The respected and revered anchor could have even stopped at that point and asked these simple question; does this fit the profile of a person with limited education and such work skills.

Thanks to the WhatsApp journalism, which is prevalent these days, it is a safe assumption that our dear doctor must have gotten one of those “forwarded as received” messages and decided to accept it at face value. But let’s assume that it was a genuine source, who tipped off the doctor about a clandestine operation immediately after the suspect was arrested. Any rational person would have questioned the timing and unpacked this strange coincidence.

You do not need to be a Sherlock Holmes to determine that a suspect like Imran Ali, who is a contract labourer and a part-time reciter of religious hymns is incapable of maintaining foreign currency accounts

Yours truly has no journalistic background but knows the fundamental principles of this profession. The saying goes that you must check, double check and finally cross-check the facts of your story;weigh the options and ascertain the legal consequences. Ultimately, both you as a journalist and your organisation; both must stand behind your story.

Bypassing the basics, he decided to make dramatic pleas directly to the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take immediate notice of this shocking revelation. In his passion, he just went a bit overboard about his potential punishment to lend credibility to his bizarre story. In an equally unprecedented fashion, the Honourable CJP too immediately replied and summoned him to the court.

After a dramatic presentation outside the court, the good doctor went inside and shared the list of the accounts with the Honourable CJP and gave him two names to be held in utmost secrecy. These were the names of a Cabinet and a Provincial Minister of the incumbents, who allegedly had links with the aforementioned-gang.

The crux of the so-called evidence was a list of alleged bank accounts of the suspect in various banks, both locally and internationally. The State Bank of Pakistan, after prompt verification, refuted the existence of any accounts of the suspect under his Identification card.

Following this bust, the doctor popped up in a couple of programmes hosted by his fellow anchors and volunteered to be grilled by them. His responses and rants were beyond comical and so juvenile that one felt sorry for him.

Treading on an un-exemplary path the apex court summoned the doctor with other who’s who of his profession on a Sunday. The doctor failed to present any evidence that corroborated his allegations. It would have been prudent to kill inquiry at that point. But Honourable CJP yielded and allowed a formation of a new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to gather the evidence from Dr Masood, but saidif he failed to substantiate his claims within thirty days, he would have to face some severe consequences.

The doctor is adamant that he will be able to bring such an earth-shattering expose to light that people in power corridors will crumble. Considering that it is such a high-profile case, which is being followed by the rest of the world, what message does this development send to the people?

Some of his colleagues have rightly criticised him for tarnishing the image of the news and current affairs programming. However, some have settled their scores with him by digging into his previous journalistic gaffes. A bit of restraint was well warranted in this situation by his peers.

In the world of news, thirty days is quite a long time. Sadly, each day brings another sensational sound bite or ticker about a newer incident as gruesome and horrific as Zainab. The folks who have an axe to grind with him, are expecting a lot from this inquiry and have pinned their high hopes on the apex court. With utmost respect, nothing earth-shattering will come out of this inquiry either. The most that our beloved doctor may face is perhaps the contempt of court. The bigger question remains, will it send the right signal to some of his peers, who are not far off when it comes to spewing similar nonsense on the tube. The jury is out on that one, for the time being, to say the least.

The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He can be reached at dasghar@aol.com and Tweets at @dasghar

Published in Daily Times, February 3^rd 2018.