EDITORIAL: In a much welcome decision the Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Editor–in-Chief of the Jang Group of Newspapers, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, after eight long months of incarceration by the National Accountably Bureau (NAB). He was arrested last March in a more than three-decade-old case of illegal acquisition of residential plots. The move was widely seen as an attempt to muzzle independent media rather than some wrong committed by an influential media figure. His freedom, even though on bail, comes as a sigh of relief for the journalists community with the All Pakistan Newspapers Society declaring “finally justice has prevailed” and Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors hailing the bail order, though, not without condemning what it termed arrest of journalists and editors on baseless allegations.
Mir Shakil has been treated unfairly. As the SC order notes he was arrested almost three months before the initiation of a reference against him. This was done despite the fact that he was fully cooperating with investigations. NAB ‘s claim that his custody was required because the investigators needed to record the statements of some officials did not hold much water considering that, unlike the holders of public office, Mir Sahib was in no position to influence the statements of government officials. Later in July, the Lahore High Court rejected his plea for post-arrest bail contending that the respondents had demonstrated that they were not led by ulterior motives of intimidating and demoralizing the petitioner and making him an “example for the entire media industry to keep others in line.” The SC bench has now directed him to furnish a bond of Rs 10 million with two sureties. He has also been asked to surrender his passport to the trial court so the competent authority may place his name on the Exit Control List to ensure his regular attendance of the case proceedings.
The case, once again, highlights a serious flaw in the accountability law that allows the accountability watchdog to arrest suspects without collecting necessary but incriminating evidence. As a result, more often than not, NAB prosecutors fail to prove guilt in courts of law. This blatantly wrong policy of putting people behind bars without proven guilty not only causes distress to the suspects and their families but also tarnishes their reputations. When recently the PTI government amended the NAB law, it had the opportunity to take out this unjustifiable provision from the NAB Ordinance - instituted by military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf with the express design to rein in uncompromising opposing leaders - that gives the NAB arbitrary powers to arrest people first and look for evidence later. Unfortunately, it chose to ignore the same. But it is never too late to do the right thing. Good sense suggests that the ruling party revisit the NAB law and make it mandatory for the accountability bureau to file a corruption reference only after conducting proper investigations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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