The lawmakers in Senate on Friday slammed double standards of rulers in implementation of law, saying formation of Hamoodur Rehman Commission, on the Fall of Dhaka , proved futile as it had called for 'public trial' of six military generals. They called for open trial of PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain and setting him free immediately if there is no solid evidence of any wrongdoing against him.
The senators advocated proceedings against prisoners in accordance with the law and called for probing the long-continued 'kill and dump' policy in Baluchistan. They insisted that the only way to progress was continuation of democracy, backed by rule of law and transparency. The government of Punjab and Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah were slammed for resisting operation against Punjab-based terrorists, and leaders and workers of banned outfits, which have re-emerged on the national scene by changing their names.
The senators were expressing these views on a discussion about political prisoners in Pakistan, which coincided with the anniversaries of the separation of the East Pakistan and Army Public School Peshawar massacre. The PML-N and PPP senators also came face-to-face in Senate after a disagreement over who can be called a 'genuine' political prisoner, situation further aggravated when PPP's Aitzaz Ahsan insisted that those taking refuge in Saudi Arabia could not be called political prisoners at all.
The House was debating a motion moved by some 36 senators belonging to PPP, PML-Q, ANP and PTI on political prisoners, but the situation went out of control after Leader of Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the only genuine political prisoner.
In an obvious reference to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's exile in Saudi Arabia during General Pervez Musharraf regime, he said those taking pride for being political prisoners, must remember that they left by striking a ten-year deal with a dictator, leaving all their workers at the mercy of God. "How can you compare Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto with a man [Nawaz Sharif] who struck a tacit deal with a dictator through Saad Hariri of Syria and took refuge in Saudi Arabia, which he kept denying and had to accept when the document was made available to the press?" he lamented.
There is only one leader who can genuinely be called a political prisoner, according to Aitzaz, and he was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who outrightly refused to put a clemency appeal to the then military dictator General Ziaul Haq. "A political prisoner never apologises, as Bhutto preferred death rather than apologising to Ziaul Haq. You must remember that a political prisoner will never go to Jeddah by striking a deal," he added.
The hard-hitting speech by Ahsan who directly hit the Prime Minister infuriated the treasury MPs, especially Senator Mushahidullah Khan, the PML-N Parliamentary Leader in Senate, who stood up on his seat and kept asking the chair for time to respond. But the chairman Senate refused to give him time, saying if he insisted any further, he would read out the prorogation order, besides exercising the rules as it is the chair that has the authority whether or not to allow members to speak.
However, the PML senator kept pressing for time but the chair stuck to his guns, perhaps due to Thursday proceedings in which he had treated Aitzaz Ahsan in similar way when he wanted to clarify the allegations levelled against him by Senator Mushahidullah. Earlier taking part in the debate, another ruling party Senator Nehal Hashmi questioned who used to call Ayub Khan a 'daddy', and who sent a message to Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, saying "Idhar hum Udhar tum" (I rule over here, you rule over there).
After directly hitting the PPP founding leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the PML-N senator said that they are proud to arrest PPP leader Asim Hussain who, he claimed, is involved in corruption of billions of rupees. "You shed crocodile tears for Asim Hussain and call him a political prisoner. [I] wish if you declare supermodel Ayyan Ali is also a political prisoner who is also very close to your heart," he remarked sarcastically while referring to Ayyan who is facing trial in a money laundering case. In yet another hit directly at the PPP, Senator Hashmi said that the government of his party was bound to arrest Rao Shakeel, a man involved in Haj scandal during PPP government, adding, "We had arrested him or else the pilgrims would have cursed upon us."
"If this is what you think we should be ashamed of, we are not...because we did the right thing by arresting the people involved in corruption," he further said. Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif of MQM said that exploitation of law by both elected and martial law regimes is the biggest terrorism which should be cured. He said that a tiny station house officer (SHO) can register a terrorism case against any innocent person under 7-ATA.
The MQM senator also severely criticised the Supreme Court, saying the apex did notice the trousers hanging outside the apex court building during Tahir ul Qadri's sit-in, but it is yet to see hundreds of innocent prisoners languishing in jails.
Senator Sherry Rehman of PPP said that Dr Asim Hussain is a clear-cut political prisoner, adding Justice Faiz Isa's report on Quetta carnage is a clear charge-sheet against the present government. "My compliment to the brave justice," she added. Engineer Baleegu Ur Rehman, State Minister for Interior, while winding up the debate said if the menace of terrorism has come down, it is due to National Action Plan (NAP), which is helping in eradicating the menace to a great extent.
He categorically rejected that there is any political prisoner in the country, adding action against Dr Asim was taken by the provincial government, and the Rangers are also on the disposal of provincial government, so there is no point to blame the Centre for this. The House offered fateha for the victims of APS terror incident, which happened exactly two years back.
As many as 35 senators had signed the motion for a discussion in the House on the issue of political prisoners. PPP Senator Rehman Malik, who moved the motion, opened the discussion and said that there was a very thin line between accountability and victimisation and insisted on legislation, keeping in view the past experiences. He said nothing could be proved against Dr Asim, whom he called a political prisoner, whose father and grand-father had a role in the creation of Pakistan.
"If there was evidence against him, action should have been taken," he noted. He said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari had been political prisoners.
Sardar Muhammad Azam Musakhel of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party said that they had learnt that some 31 agencies are functioning in Pakistan and asked if anyone was arrested in wake of six major incidents of terrorism, which hit Baluchistan in recent past. Senator Mushahidullah Khan called for holding those accountable who wanted to cause cracks in the civil-military relations. He recalled how generals were named in the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report for allegedly bribing people to achieve results of their own choice in 1970 elections.
He charged that the entire system in Pakistan had been in the grip of the establishment since its inception but with relentless struggle and sacrifices rendered by politicians, political workers, journalists, poets, writers and student and trade unions, it was gradually coming out of it. The PML-N senator said that Pakistan was disintegrated during the era of General Yahya, but no one was held accountable. He recalled how Mumtaz Daultana braved coercion and jail and Maulana Maududi and Maulana Abdul Sattar were saved in the last minute from being hanged.
He also recalled during the dark rule of Ayub, Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Quaid-e-Azam, was defeated in election and campaign for her character assassination was run to malign her. He added dictators had their stint of rule, both in uniform as well as in suit, and operations were carried out in Baluchistan by both. The senator termed the tenure of Zia as dark period.
Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldeni of the Baluchistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) challenged who would dare to act in the light of the Quetta tragedy commission report and said one could not avert a disaster by merely shutting eyes on seeing a monster. "If you will sow seeds of love, it will be reciprocated accordingly. I am from Baluchistan. Am I not son of the soil like others? Is it a crime to demand provincial autonomy," he remarked.
He alleged that 'kill and dump' policy is continuing even during the democratic rules after the regime of Musharraf but no one is ready to talk on this issue in this House. He wished a motion be brought to discuss the matter, which is not going down well with the people of his province, who feel alienated and discriminated.
PTI Senator Shibli Faraz urged political parties to shed and disown 'rotten eggs' and said criminals should not be mixed up with political prisoners, advocating fair trail of all those in captivity. He regretted that words such as transparency and accountability had virtually lost meanings, as these are used repeatedly but are never acted upon and adhered to.