Daily Times

I wanted to write about the politics of Imran Khan this week but fast paced developments in the Panama case, pushed me to focus on the convoluted state of legal and political affairs that have grabbed national psyche.

How unfortunate that if there is any law in the country, it starts shaking against heavyweights but for ordinary and weaker mortals, the same law moves in the fast forward mode.

If Imran Khan, is declared a proclaimed offender in any case, why couldn’t the law find him and bring him to the court?  If he uses the routine, legal but permissible tactics, changing attorneys and dilly-dallying methods to prolong cases against him, as almost every heavyweight has been doing for decades, he is called a bad guy. May be.

But if those in power see a case going against them, they publicly challenge, threaten and confront the investigators, denounce the courts and declare they would not accept the results, they are not stopped by anyone, at least for now.

Why the capital city has to be shut down because the daughter of the PM has to appear and testify in a criminal investigation. It should not be treated as an honour. Is she under a security threat or is it pure politics to use official positions and resources and impress supporters and ordinary folks, making their lives miserable.

Likewise if official PM House or his personal protocol cars run on fake number plates, why there is no one to check it?

Why is it that despite fears that a conflict of interest situation will develop and men and women in authority will try to influence and obstruct the course of justice, courts and men of law allow it? The accused do exactly what was feared.

All these and many more such examples have emerged from the Panama case.

Open accusations and threats have been made against the courts, the army and the security establishment for interfering in favour or against one or the other party.  A media circus has continued unabated outside the courts or where the investigations are being held, making it a political charade which may have few precedents in any other country.

Same old political faces repeat the same old abuses and threats to grab media time and people watch TV anchors invite the same old analysts and experts saying the same thing over and over again.

But in some ways history is being made. What has been established is that from now on, all important cases in higher courts will be tried both inside and outside the courts.

The fear is that the media trials outside could, and in some instances, have, influenced the cases inside. Pressures created by mainstream and social media have forced judges to summon witnesses who may not have been called.

In short a purely criminal and legal investigation has been turned into a political soccer world cup final, polarising not just the political spectrum but big sections of the media and the masses.

The fear is that any judgment for or against the petitioners, or the accused, may not be accepted and street agitation and popular rallies and even violence may damage the image and integrity of the courts.

If the Army were distracted from its vital role to protect the borders and from internal security challenges, the politicians would have failed in their duty

Greater damage would be caused if turmoil is allowed to spill over and no central authority is seen in power that could keep the country safe from the grave regional and international threats that are fast closing in.

A serious situation may develop if the security establishment is sucked in and has to either stand as an umpire or take partial or full control of national management.

If the Army were distracted from its vital role to protect the borders and from internal security challenges, the politicians would have failed in their duty.

If the courts do not give clear, transparent and widely acceptable and endorsable judgments, they would have allowed or even caused turmoil that could threaten national security in many ways.

How then to avoid a volcanic eruption that could engulf all segments of society, bog down security providers and bring the economic wheel to a halt.

Someone who has the authority, credibility and the vision to stop this loaded freight train, must act now before it is too late.

In clear terms the security establishment must tell all civilians that they have to behave and let the system, however depleted or flawed it may be, continue.

All have to be told that the superior courts are the highest forums where judgments, good or bad, are to be made and all will have to respect these verdicts, for or against anyone.

The civil establishment and institutions will have to be told clearly and vehemently that they will have to continue working in the interest of the country and not in their personal petty interests or as servants and slaves of one party or the other.

These messages must be delivered now along with the firm assurances that the army and its brute force will not interfere in the political and legal process.

The country and the system must go on, come what may.

The writer is a senior journalist

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th , 2017.