- Arrest first, ask questions later
SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that the government should not be linked with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with regards to the recent arrest of Jang/Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman (MSR). This oft-repeated narrative put forth by the PTI government that NAB is an independent institution has gotten stale. It has become an undeniable objective fact that NAB’s wrath is reserved only for opposition party leaders, bureaucrats that have worked closely with past governments and anyone critical of the present government. Days before the arrest, the Islamabad High Court was highly critical of this practice of arresting individuals first and asking questions later, adding that this was an obvious misuse of power to cause reputational harm. MSR’s arrest therefore comes across as a strong reply by NAB to the IHC’s observations. Had the accountability watchdog’s track record for effectively prosecuting the cases it initiates been remotely satisfactory, one could perhaps understand and appreciate the utility of the institution. Most politicians and bureaucrats, after spending months in custody, have been granted bail after the courts found no grounds to detain them any longer.
Governments and dictatorships have used accountability institutions to persecute political opponents in the past, so it is nothing new. But the sort of heavy-handedness and excessiveness on display under the new set-up is unprecedented. The ubiquitous nature of this ‘witch-hunt’ style of operating has made bureaucratic red tape worse, with businessmen jittery and afraid to invest out of fear that they too could be made a party to any investigation based on some trivial oversight. It seems that the decision to arrest, no matter if the evidence merits it or not, is usually already made in such cases. Internationally, it does not portray a soft image of the country with regards to freedom of speech either. The US State Department has “noted with concern”, while UK lawmakers have condemned, this latest arrest. While it is up to the courts now to decide on the merits of the case, MSR’s arrest does not bode well for the freedom of media in the country, which has already been trampled on in the past two years. The government should rationalize and amend the NAB law with input from all stakeholders because not long from now, they may very well be on the receiving end of this sham accountability.
