The offices of this newspaper had a few uninvited visitors yesterday: the police, bearing the non-bailable arrest warrants of the CEO and Editor of Pakistan Today, who are also the Publishing Editor and Joint Editor respectively, of Profit, the paper’s business, economy and finance magazine. Both of them having been away on official business, and therefore not present at the office, turned out to be fortuitous. In addition, two other individuals (a current and former staffer) also have arrest warrants in the same case.
The case: the saga started some months ago, when Profit thought the manner of acquisition of Bank Islami by the JS Group didn’t quite pass the smell test. An investigative feature laid bare, quite meticulously, the methodology employed by the JS Group, through the stock market, to gain controlling shares of Bank Islami. The feature ended with the opinion that the small shareholders seem to have been kept away from the advantages that such takeovers yield to all shareholders. Some time later, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the government body that is supposed to, in addition to other things, look out for the interests of shareholders, large and small, made some changes to the very process of acquisitions and takeovers that seemed to directly address the issues raised by Profit.
In another country, with freedom of press, this vindication would have meant a celebration at the offices of the publication, and a pat on the back by all small shareholders on the stock exchange, whether or not they held Bank Islami shares. Check and check, that did happen. But in addition to that, the churlish group behind the takeover filed a case of criminal defamation. In Thatta, Sindh, more than a thousand kilometers away from our office. This being a criminal defamation case means the individuals would have to go all the way to Thatta to appear in court.
All over the civilized world, criminal defamation laws have been done away with, making the issue a civil matter. In Pakistan, filing criminal defamation cases, and then gaming the system to twist the knife, is still very much an option. Specially for those who don’t want to be written about, if they know the gears and the levers of the system, and know which palms to grease.
None of the above deters this publication from going about its journalism. But we financial journalists, like our tribe across the beats, across publications, and across the world have to keep saying: #journalismisnotacrime.
