The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is toying with the idea of following a controversial precedent. That is, the forming of a Panama-style special Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the alleged involvement of former president and PPP co-Chairman as well as his sister in a Rs35 billion money-laundering scandal. That Justice Saqib Nisar wants to deliver swift justice is to be welcomed. Especially given the repeated failure of both Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur to appear before a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team. The former head of state, for his part, has complained of deliberate character assassination as part of a pre-poll rigging campaign. And while it is for the courts to decide whether or not there is any truth in these allegations — there is no getting away from the fact that the FIA has been investigating this particular case since 2015. Yet the ante was only upped as the elections approached. This is not to say we endorse a selective and partisan approach to justice. Far from it. But it is to remind all concerned that the previous set-up did not push for resolution on this front. In other words, even as the PPP held its traditional stronghold of Sindh during the last government — this did not prevent then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from sending in paramilitary force the Rangers into that province to restore law and order there. Thus the same regime could have facilitated the FIA in stepping up its investigation of Zardari. That it did not, lends some credence to Imran Khan’s claims of an unwritten agreement between two major parties to stall accountability. But be that as it may, palace intrigues are not what is important here but, rather, the question of how justice should be blind; as opposed to merely myopic. There is another lesson to be learned here. This comes in the form of a timely reminder that the higher judiciary’s priority must remain serving the people within its own remit. This means focusing on such large-scale corruption instead of, say, organising crowd funding for dams; only to, even here, throw in the towel somewhat prematurely. Having said that, now that the CJP has taken notice of this particular JIT probe, Zardari and Talpur would do well to submit themselves to due process. While the FIA and other institutions involved must similarly commit to professionalism and impartiality; lest this be seen as another sort of witch-hunt. The path to justice in Pakistan is all too often a long and arduous one; with the devil largely remaining in the detail of timing. Bluntly put, this has to change. Thus the anti-corruption drive must be rule-based and cognisant of constitutional safeguards, such as due process, across the board. If any of these elements are missing — we may see an unfortunate return to past trends. * Published in Daily Times, August 8th 2018.