Not the midnight knock

MAY 2000 - Sometime in the early seventies, a group of army officers were rounded up and arrested on the charge of planning a coup against the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Among them was Maj.Farooq Adam, a Sandhurst graduate and one of the most promising young officers. Also included in that midnight swoop was one of my dear friends, Major, now long retired, Shahid Ataullah. In fact, Shahid’s arrest from Sialkot Cantonment at the dreaded midnight hour is now something of a private joke amongst his close friends. Attired in his night suit he wasn’t given time by the heavily armed troopers to even put on his favourite Bata slippers. So, barefoot, seated between six guards, armed and ready to shoot, he was driven in a Dodge truck to Attock Fort where he was thrown into a cell for the next three weeks. In the end, the charges were never substantiated and Shahid, disillusioned with the army he loved, resigned. By all accounts, he had the makings of an excellent army officer destined to rise to the top echelons, but he walked away from it. Maj. Farooq Adam wasn’t so lucky. Sentenced to 14 years R.I, he was to spend four long years in Haripur Jail, where he taught himself law. Zia ul Haq finally set him free. Today, destiny has placed through a curious twist, Farooq in the role of the jailer and the dreaded Attock Fort under his jurisdiction. As a prosecutor with NAB, he is now shaping other people’s destinies.

When Major Shahid Ataullah sought release from the army, Gen. Tikka Khan would have none of it, but Shahid was adamant. His fight with the army was the way it had treated him, like a petty criminal, violating its own hallowed traditions of procedures to be followed when arresting an officer of the armed forces. That was the crux of the problem – the proper procedure. In the end, the army had no choice but to let him go. I narrate this simply to make the point that two decades and more later, the same principles are again at stake as the NAB sets about bringing to justice those it thinks have violated this country’s resources and lined their pockets with ill-gotten gains. Commendable, but why does NAB follow one set of principles and in the same breath violate another ?

This is what has puzzled and aggravated Pakistanis on the recent fiasco of the abduction and arrest of Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar and the Lakhani brothers. NAB has been nabbed in a compromising position with egg on its face. Why NAB has allowed itself to get into this mess ?. The new operation has all the tell tale signs of the Ehtesab Bureau in its hey day and if this is so, what is the difference between the goon squads operating then and the ones operating now ? The first reports of the arrests of the Lakhani brothers were denied by NAB but the manner of their abduction and disappearance had fooled no body. It was the sort of operation citizens now recognise as the handiwork of the spooks who are powerful, ruthless and unaccountable and who arrive at the stroke of midnight. It doesn’t matter if the FIA, CIA, ISI, IB or whatever else they are called, make the abductions and the arrests. The end results are the same. The scripts never change. Denials by all concerned, protestations of innocence followed by a 180 degree turn. In Sethi’s case, it took them about a month to admit who all were involved. Here, because the government is half way decent, the time frame is shorter, but that is a minor blessing. Surely Islamabad has not already forgotten the worldwide condemnation that followed the Sethi fiasco? Having said that, I suppose it has. It’s all that marijuana that grows wild I maintain which drives rulers cuckoo. We came out looking like barbarians then. We are not looking good now. The recent operation has only proved that the seriousness of the charge remains that whatever the crime – and remember it has yet to be established, no one has the right to pluck citizens of Pakistan off the streets, off planes, from their homes without warrants or even the most rudimentary paperwork. What does it take to do it by the book ? Is there a serious shortage of clerks and typists to do the needful ? And if it is a government-inspired operation, which it always is, why lie blatantly and within 24 hours retract the same statement ? It defies logic and common sense and it is amazing that no one seems to figure it out. The account of 40 troopers scaling the walls of Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar’s home may be ridiculous and farcical to some, but it is appalling to those of us who still believe in the rule of law and the rights of people. What were the authorities who planned this caper thinking ? Was it a man they were arresting or King Kong? Is this how we bring to book people we make ministers one year and treat as proclaimed offenders the next ? Is there no one to ensure that some semblance of law and basic rights are followed ? Someone said that how could anyone expect a military government to observe laws since its take over of the country is outside the laws of the country ? But then, if the Chief Executive is a decent and law-abiding man who wants to stop at traffic lights, why are those who are executing his mandate, breaking laws with impunity ? Doesn’t make sense.

No one grudges the task NAB has undertaken. There was the same sympathy and support for the Ehtesab Bureau when it began. It was only when the witch-hunting became apparent that the people were disgusted and turned their faces away. Most of us have little or no personal knowledge of what wrongs were committed by the Lakhani brothers or Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar who was once our Commerce Minister, but why cannot NAB or whoever is the ultimate authority follow laid down procedures and laws ? Does no one understand that the manner in which we are proceeding is causing further erosion of our muddied image ? We all know that the only time we make news is when we make bad news. Walking off any aircraft with our green passport now causes epileptic fits at airports. Getting visas is becoming harder and harder. There is nothing good that anyone associates with Pakistan. We are associated around the world with corruption, lawlessness, bankruptcy, terrorism, illiteracy, fanaticism and just about every other plague associated with mankind. What we all have witnessed last week is another sorry chapter in our downward slide. Is there no one left to add a small touch of decency and respect to the way we conduct our public lives ? I thought that gentlemen like Farooq Adam were the very ones who would make the difference because he, of all people, should know the difference.