EDITORIAL: What started with a bang truly ended in a whimper in the case of the former commissioner of Rawalpindi as the man who offered nothing less than his own neck and accepted wilful electoral fraud on a grand scale reportedly confessed to lying about the cheating only two days later. So, in addition to confusion and chaos this saga has also given rise to a number of power conspiracy theories.
And since nobody is willing to believe the contents of the letter allegedly written by him to ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan), not the least because confessions under duress carry no weight even in the most unusual circumstances, it turns out that he’s raised yet more questions than answers even by supposedly telling the truth now about lying earlier. And if you trust the grapevine you’ll also wonder about the timing, since this bombshell dropped when talks about a coalition government were getting nowhere. But then, just when it seemed that the former commissioner’s revelations might compromise the entire election exercise, PPP and PML-N finalised the deal before the clock struck midnight. And then this drama duly fizzled out.
As things stand now, the only thing that will prove that Chattha was not a pawn in the hands of the so-called establishment is his own fate. If, like so many others before him, he simply disappears into obscurity, then only more questions will be raised. But if he is made to pay for his deeds, the real ones and how his imagination supposedly tricked people and hurt the country, then it’ll be a different story.
But that will need transparency. Right now there’s no word about where he is kept, what made him change his mind, or even if he authored the confession. This way authorities investigating this bizarre episode are also adding to the confusion and chaos that Chattha caused. The people must know if there is any grain of truth in either of his confessions. Was he part of an official effort to sabotage the election? Or, even worse, was what he said later the real truth, and he was really hands in glove with senior PTI leadership, and he happily maligned the CEC and CJP in return for high office later?
What should not happen, in any case, is for this episode to fade from the public consciousness without a proper conclusion. All that happened before, during and after the election is already shameful enough for a country desperately trying to get back on its feet and keep its many existential crises at arm’s length. Perhaps the judiciary should take the lead in making sure the investigation sees the light of day, not least because he pointed the finger directly at the CJ himself.
Regardless, the coming days should reveal the truth and nothing but the truth about this matter. Anything less would be a great insult to the people who, at the end of the day, pay for all such misadventures and absurdities. Time will tell.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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