Hopefully, decks have been finally cleared for judicial investigations into the May 2 Abbottabad raid and murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad. The court didn't take more than a day to decide the issue, as against the inordinate delay on the part of the government in the matter, earning it accusations of deliberate foot-dragging. Both the apex court judges, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, were nominated by the government but it was done without bringing the Chief Justice of Pakistan into the picture in violation of the recognised procedure.
Even the membership of the commissions was disputed, not only by the political opposition and civil society but also by the nominees. Now that re-composition of the commissions' membership has been ordered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the government must establish its sincerity by nominating persons whose competence is proven and reputation aboveboard. The court expects the government 'while nominating the other members, will also consider their status quo, the position of the president of the commission, being the judge of the apex court'.
The court also expects that terms of reference of the commissions would be expanded to ensure that the Fundamental Rights as spelt out in the Constitution with regard to 'individual's right to be dealt with in accordance with law', 'security of persons', 'freedom of association', 'freedom of speech' and 'right to information' are fully enforced.
Given the fate of the earlier high-profile commissions, it is essential that there should be a timeframe for the commissions to complete their work and make public their reports. The government must also confirm that the commissions would have easy access to persons and documents.
That the government has promised to expand the terms of reference and honestly follow the procedure, the officials representing the government before the court made the solemn promise, but will it be done, we have to wait and see. Presently being short of its required strength and burdened with numerous other important cases, the Supreme Court would have liked to be spared being involved in the work of the proposed commissions.
After the unanimous resolution passed by the joint session of parliament, the best course was that there should have been parliamentary commissions - because, whatever the reports by the commissions, their implementation is the responsibility of the government. But it's the utter lack of trust in each other's sincerity to work for the common good of the country that kept the treasury benches and the opposition in a high state of mutual hostility.
There were even hints, not much concealed as was the Maulana Fazlur Rehman's statement that probe into the Abbottabad incident would not be in the national interest, which tended to vitiate the climate for the much-desired trust. And there is no dearth of public comment in that respect; only the other day a former close confidant of General Ziaul Haq, General Majeed Malik (Retd), reportedly said that Muhammad Khan Junejo, a former prime minister, lost his job just because he had constituted the Ojhri Camp commission.
The Gilani government was dragging the feet on the issue of the inquiry commissions into the Abbottabad incident and Saleem Shahzad's murder, 'because PM Gilani did not want to become another Muhammad Khan Junejo', said Malik. Was it the government's usual ineptitude or its well-thought out plan to hide the truth, we have no comment?
But we do know that in the same joint session that adopted the unanimous resolution on the Abbottabad saga the military leadership had proposed in uncertain terms that there should be a high-powered commission that would inquire into all aspects of the clandestine US commando raid.
The fact is that from day one of the present democratic setup, the military leadership has acted in complete subservience and observed full compliance - even when things crossed all the redlines that had invited take-overs in the past. But all that is hopefully behind us and the way has been cleared for the commissions to dig deep into these incidents and fix responsibility. Does it matter if an institution is cleansed of the black sheep?
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