Pakistan’s greatest tragedy has been that the WHITE COLLAR crime somehow never got into the domain of morality. Bribery at administrative lower levels, and standard looting arson, theft and dacoity did catch the attention of the public as well as the judicial system, but crimes by the high and the mighty that truly have deprived the country of billions and billions of its national wealth and made the bulk of the taxpayers’ money disappear into concealed accounts, offshore companies properties abroad, and what we call BENAMIS, somehow have always gone unpunished.
The judgement of Justice Asif Khosa was the first ray of hope—and a big ray of hope. In this judgement, the honourable member of a five-member bench adjudged the-then Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif guilty of hiding truth through sinister lies and acting in a manner that was unworthy of a person holding the highest office in the country. In this famous judgement, the honourable judge made a brilliant allegorical reference to Mario Puzo’s famous novel Godfather in which was quoted the famous dictum of Lord Acton. BEHIND EVERY FORTUNE THERE IS A CRIME.
The JIT that was formed through consensus to lay bare the facts behind the charges against Mian Nawaz Sharif and his family regarding the Panama Leaks-related London properties, went on to endorse the Khosa judgement after extensive interrogations and investigations.
Though the NAB cases against the sacked Prime Minister’s family have taken too long to facilitate a befitting DROP SCENE to this drama of a monumental White-Collar Crime, the indications are that the hopes ‘ignited’ by the Khosa judgement will not fail to meet fulfillment. These hopes have been further strengthened by the historic judgement Justice Ibad ur Rehman Lodhi of the Appellate Election Tribunal has given to disqualify for life, another ex-Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on exactly similar grounds and under the same law.
There is no denying the fact that behind every lie and every concealment too there is a crime.
It is a huge insult to the Nation that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi instead of confining himself to the legal options available to him, has embarked upon the same path that his MASTER and predecessor had chosen— the path of vilifying the judiciary— and of insulting the concerned judge by no-hold-barred use of obscene language.
Khaqan Abbasi’s verdict is: “This despicable judge is unworthy of being called a judge. He is an insult to the Judiciary. He is insane. He is corrupt”.
The people’s verdict is: “YOU ARE INSANE KHAQAN. YOU ARE AN INSULT TO THIS COUNTRY. YOU WERE UNWORTHY OF HOLDING THE HIGH OFFICE YOU HELD. YOU DEMEANED THIS HIGH OFFICE BY ACTING LIKE AN ORDERLY OF THE SHARIF FAMILY”.
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