Trials, Terror & Testimonies Of Asif Ali Zardari By Mahjabeen Agha

Trials, Terror & Testimonies Of Asif Ali Zardari

By Mahjabeen Agha

Al-Jazeerah, November 28, 2004

“It is certainly wrong to despair, and if despair is wrong, hope is right.” John Lubbock

Asif Ali Zardari is a person who always hit the headlines not just because he is a spouse of former twice democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto but a political victim cum prisoner who had spend prolonged eight years from November 4, 1996 to November 4, 2004 in prison waiting for justice from judiciary vis-à-vis politically elected regimes of Pakistan.

Though winds of change were already on card, when on November 22, 2004 lady luck smiled in his favor and court gave a verdict in favor of Mr. Zardari in case of BMW reference case. His release brings jubilance for his family and friends who waited for expeditious justice based on eight years long trials & testimonies.

At the time when government as well as judicial lobby was facing severe criticism to take the right turn over Asif Zardari’s imprisonment besides opposition parties constant pressure to made country wide rallies for the release of a political prisoner, the decision of court to release Mr. Zardari in BMW case is definitely a pleasant move for Mr. Zardari’s friends and of course for the PPP loyalists who never left Mr. Zardari alone in the time of supreme controversy, however from the government front it was a way to halt the country wide opposition cum agitation against the government.

Surprisingly it was Mr. Zardari’s will to stand still on his principles that led him stay behind the bar for almost eight years. As what philosopher Emerson says “To different minds, the same world is a hell and a heaven,” therefore if at one side it was the decision of government not to bring back the same political figures on surface while de-stabilizing the democratic pavilion once again on the track then on other side it was tough testing time of the political person adamant on not to compromise with the government on quid pro quo basis just to set himself free.

Ironically, it is always difficult to judge the government’s perspective how and when they want to see his position in and out of political arena of Pakistan. During the period of SGS-Cotecna case best known as Swiss case, the reaction of the federal govt. to allow Mr. Zardari to record his testimony on April 22, 2004 before the Swiss court was a great achievement, as the SGS-Cotecna was case initially handled by Swiss Magistrate Daniel David and later shifted to Attorney Journal on Ms. Bhutto’s challenge against the decision of Daniel David.

However, Asif Zardari had straight away rejected the government proposal or to come in the net via any kind of deal or agreement. There may be his deteriorated that won’t allow him to travel or there may be a perception of not leaving any kind of unattended platform a military government is obsessed with. The whole fuss of Swiss controversy was actually the outcome of Accountability Bureau in 1998 under the govt. of former Prime Minister Mr. Nawaz Shariff. However Ms. Bhutto vehemently denied the entire lobbying of SGS case fabricated against Ms. Bhutto to keep her engage in colossal so that she could divert her foremost attention from politics the of her homeland.

Inter alia, the political uncertainty raised by Asif Ali Zardari was so serious that it wasn’t possible for the government to keep Asif’s eminence grise issue at arms length. Though from time to time govt. spokesmen while accepting their responsibility to reply the queries highlighted by the opposition in land & abroad, do give sometimes favorable and most of the times insalubrious statements in lieu of Zardari’s restraint position.

One of the major flaws in Zardari’s release was judicial nonfeasance, the untimely extended summons and hearing of cases, delay in judicial cum judicious judgments almost turn Asif Zardari’s prison life in to lifetime imprisonment. Established in 1889, Geneva based international organization of Parliaments of sovereign states Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) expressed great concern over Zardari’s prolonged imprisonment and the failure to implement the timetable for his release by the Supreme Court. Like Nelson Mandela & Aung San Suu Kyi of Berma, Asif Ali Zardari’s unconstitutional and repeated political detention had gained colossal of criticism to Pakistan.

Until and unless the accountability modus operandi is not revised or fairly implemented, criminal vis-à-vis political influence may not establish democratic state of affairs in Pakistan.

His dramatic arrest and later detainment under National Accountability Ordinance in different regimes Mr. Zardari had spent almost 8 politically pinnacle years in jails of different provinces. In fact It would be more judicious to say that Mr. Asif had had faced life imprisonment with severe mental and physical torture as well. He had faced number of lately conducted trials and testimonies in various cases from money laundering to criminal charges including;

• Mir Murtaza murder case (brother of former Prime Minister Ms. Bhutto) • Container case of 1997 • Alam Balouch murder case of 1997 • Karachi Electric Supply Corp Tender Case • Justice Nizam Murder Case & Drug Case • BMW reference case

Whether fair or unfair is his detention was to be decided by the Supreme Court but back to back cases made his release next to impossible. Once he was set free in one case another was ready to meet his fate before he could apply his legal humanitarian right of granting bail. In most of the cases he was not convicted to any crime, among all the cases the BMW was the last one to decide whether he would be set free or face ready made trials in perpetuum.

Since toppling of the second tenure of Ms. Bhutto in November 4, 1996, Mr. Zardari was behind the bar and most of his prison life was denied every facility from granting bail to health treatment. However he attended his mother’s funeral after leniency of the current government.

Asif Ali Zardari was implicated in fake cases by the former government and he was kept in jail for the last 8 years as a under accused. From politically analytical periscope "The establishment is against the success of the Benazir Bhutto. That's why, all efforts ere employed to oust Ms. Bhutto from political scenario through his husband’s political victimization." Due to lofty opposition however it wasn’t feasible for the govt. or judiciary to keep the high profile foreign qualified political couple engaged in to unfair disputes.

Well reasons has its own reasons, as it is hard to believe besides the judicial failure to come up with timely decisions, what went wrong to resolve the pending cases that had forced Mr. Zardari to stay for so long behind the bars. It is an open violation of the rule of law & the provisions of Human rights. Plus it is an irony of our judicial system creating lag to come to judicious judicial conclusion of Mr. Zardari’s case. Once in a statement, Zardari claims all cases registered against him are false. "I would have been acquitted in all cases had the regular hearing of my cases been taken up two-and-a-half years earlier," he maintains.

In that case, I believe it is not the victimization against a person maintaining high political profile but it is an open victimization of the entire social system that made access of justice out of reach for the ordinary people. Political analysts believe that the government now wants to get rid of the embarrassment of keeping Mr. Zardari imprisoned. His prolong presence in jails without free and fair access of judicial authority; PPP is gaining strength or may cash Asif’s case in the up-coming elections to raise their vote banking. Once he is free, it should be left to him to decide how he pursues the cases pending before the Swiss court. Therefore, it is high time for govt. to accept this phenomenon that being a citizen of Pakistan it is against the rule of law to keep Mr. Zardari out of politics.

En passant, I may not be fairly cognizant regarding the fairness or fakeness of the series of allegations instituted against Mr. Zardari, but being a politically conscious person it is my liability to identify or expose things that causes biased and dichotomous judicial exercises to resolve the sensitive criminal versus constitutional issues. Plus I would like to ask the plenipotentiaries about all the achievements regarding the political, economical as well as geo-strategic developments that are fully vis-à-vis fairly implanted now but were denied or some how enjoyed ignorant state during the former regimes.

To the best of my knowledge, sorry to say, even after keeping people like Mr. Zardari, Javed Hashmi or other political figures, fake cases, denial of justice, political victimization, low profile accountability process, provincialism, provincial dichotomy, corruption, nepotism are still the integral part of our society. Therefore I personally believe that the effective modus operandi to combat with these socio evils is to keep personal perturb perception in to prison rather than confining people in to prison with less or absolutely no access of judicious judicial sphere.

Mahjabeen Agha is professionally an economist, political analyst computer programmer & freelance journalist residing in Karachi-Pakistan. Email: mahjabeenagha@hotmail.com

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The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

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