Giving credit where it's due

EDITORIAL: To his credit, Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered that reports of all previous air accidents in the country be made public for the benefit of the people. There's no plausible reason for the state to keep such inquiries hidden, unless there's really something to hide of course, and the prime minister no doubt realised that as he assured families of all the victims of last week's crash of complete transparency in the investigation. The importance of such exercises cannot possibly be stressed enough, especially in democracies, since they not only provide justice and perhaps a degree of closure to suffering families but also lay out just what to do to make sure similar mistakes are not made in the future. And considering Pakistan's history especially, Prime Minister Imran Khan has set a very important precedent. Now, should something go wrong in the future, God forbid, and all findings are not brought out into the open, count on the people to make sure they know the reason why. A few members of the opposition, as well as sections of the media as usual, have tried to spin this into some sort of a face saving exercise on the part of the government; as if it is trying to bring previous administrations' failures to light to mask its own. But that argument is self-defeating. Why would any finding reflect a failure on part of any government if no deliberate wrongdoing was involved? And that only begs the obvious question again about keeping such reports under wraps in the first place. And this is not the first time the prime minister has done this. Recent investigations into sugar and flour price inflation caused much controversy, especially since some of the most likely beneficiaries were either close friends and confidants of the PM or crucial allies of the ruling party. The investigation, and all the promises, touched so much virgin territory that a number of trusted analysts in the media went so far as to claim that these findings, too, would never be made public. Even Imran Khan was advised to let go of the matter after a while when prices had stabilised and everybody was ready to go back to business as usual. Yet, despite all such advice, even some threats, and the fact that some of his closest associates were indeed involved, he went ahead with the inquiry and the commission and both reports are now in the public domain; just as promised. This could not have been an easy decision considering all the pressures weighing the government down from all sorts of different angles. For example, some important players mentioned in the sugar report are also PTI's most important coalition partners in the most important province. The Chaudharys had already been flirting with the opposition off and on for a while, which some PTI members viewed as a show of force considering how the ruling party could not rule over Punjab without them. And one can understand just why Imran would have been advised, even by well-meaning friends, not to tilt the apple cart just because of his obsession with transparency. Still he chose to do the right thing which must be lauded. Those eagerly waiting for the result of the investigation into May 22, 2020 crash should take heart that, at the very least, they will get to know the whole truth about the incident that took their loved ones so cruelly from them that fateful day. Then people will be able to see for themselves if necessary steps are being taken or not, to ensure such an occurrence is never allowed to happen again. Bits and pieces of news coming out, sometimes contentious pieces of departmental investigations leaked to the media, and all such practices must stop. People should have confidence that the highest office in the land is monitoring progress and awaiting the outcome. And if it could make all the other reports public, surely it will keep its word this time as well. Now this practice must be expanded, from plane crashes and price manipulation, to include other inquiries ordered by the state as well. Hopefully, the PTI government will go all the way now that it has taken the first few steps. And, since it's important to give credit where it is due, these few steps should be appreciated.