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Pakistan’s Moment of Triumph

Implemented by former president Pervez Musharraf in October 2007, the NRO gave a clean chit to thousands facing charges of corruption and murder among others. It paved the way for the return of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif ali Zardari who became what many see as a president by accident.

With the exception of the NRO beneficiaries including President Zardari among 7,000 others, the response to the verdict among all strata of society has been overwhelmingly celebratory. Not only are the political implications for President Zardari and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party far reaching, the ruling is bound to shape the country’s future and power structure.

The triumph for the Pakistani people comes with the judicial stand that has reinstated faith and confidence and shattered the myth of the infallibility of the powerful involving in shameful corruption for decades.

Successive stints in power by various political players to further their own interests and consolidate power have contributed steadily to a culture of corruption. In fact, the culture of corruption has permeated all levels of administration from the top down, including the judiciary. It has played a corrosive role and spread fear and despondency among those who were unable or unwilling to stand up to injustice and illegal practices.

With the return of an independent judiciary in March this year, there was a revival of hope that the wrongs done in the name of political expediency may be reversed. The top court’s ruling is doubly significant for it reflects the mood of the public that illegal practices and corruption will no longer be tolerated. It is truly a precedent in the making.

As for the political implications for the ruling elite, the mood in Pakistan is unforgiving. President Zardari, head of the state and supreme commander of the powerful army, enjoys presidential immunity under Article 248 of the constitution, under which no criminal cases can be registered against him. However, even this is subject to conflicting legal opinion. Besides, the bigger threat comes from a likely reopening of cases in Swiss courts that the Supreme Court has directed the government to immediately look into. Zardari’s immunity, however, does not protect him from facing civilian cases. As for other top members of the government, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Defence Minister Ahamd Mukhtar and serving ambassadors, they are set to face the music as they do not come under the protective halo of immunity.

Zardari’s dilemma is not an easy one. The pressure to resign is expected to grow by the day, especially after the statements from opposition parties including Muslim League (Nawaz) and Jamaat-e-Islami. The PPP government itself, although it bravely vows to face corruption charges, has been dealt a hard blow. Its credibility has hit rock bottom. But the option of resignation is also fraught with greater dangers, for stepping down would mean throwing the protective mantle of immunity away.

The Supreme Court’s decision to set up monitoring cells to oversee the implementation of its orders and a change of guard in the National Accountability Bureau—the body responsible for pursuing corruption cases—has sent tremors through Islamabad. It has put the government in a difficult position as it has been instructed to start immediate proceedings against its own president abroad and its serving officials in local courts.

While some Zardari supporters have tried to take the issue on a totally different tangent by warning democracy is being targeted, it is but a feeble attempt to swim against the current. The Supreme Court’s decision in fact has strengthened democracy by upholding justice and bringing the corrupt to task. An independent judiciary is crucial to a healthy and successful democracy.

Unless the President resigns of his own accord or is impeached by the parliament, he is safe for now. While political instability is hardly going to help Pakistan at this time when it is battling extremists in its heartlands and lending crucial support to the West’s war in Afghanistan, the upheavals caused by the top court’s rulings are hardly likely to undermine the democratic structure in the country. Unless elements within the system or those affected by the SC verdict resort to time-tested ploys to create instability!

Let’s hope saner counsel prevails in Islamabad and the supremacy of law is observed in letter and spirit. The billions that have been stashed away must return to the people of Pakistan.