NLC and beyond

Published August 3, 2015

THE Supreme Court took aim at the National Accountability Bureau’s clear weaknesses last week, but the message was really to another institution — the military.

The NLC scam, in which allegedly unauthorised investments were made by senior management of the company, including senior retired army officers, in the stock exchange causing a multi-billion rupee loss over a decade ago should have been fully investigated by now — especially because the military leadership publicly, and controversially, pledged to do so citing that army law is applicable to the principal suspects, even though they had long been retired from the military in 2012.

Also read: SC sees lack of cooperation by institutions as weakness of NAB

But, as the state’s lawyers told the SC this week, the army had baulked at even updating the NAB or the government and had turned away a former prosecutor general who had gone to GHQ in search of information.

The army may well have legal reasons for acting in the manner it has done in the NLC case all along — but what about a state institution’s duty to function transparently and to enforce accountability?

Consider also the wider context here. In Karachi, the military has accused the provincial leadership of corruption on a grand scale and the army-led Rangers have raided Sindh government offices in search of documents linked to alleged land grabs and sundry financial misdeeds of politicians and bureaucrats.

In doing so, the military has cast itself as a force for good battling corruption wherever it is found. Yet, when it comes to its internal investigations and disciplinary measures, the military is famously opaque.

The NLC scam is only one of many cases in which military officers, retired and serving, have been investigated by civilian authorities. In some cases, the military has even fought in civilian courts to have serious crimes being tried there against military personnel to be tried in the opaque military justice system.

Perhaps most infamously, following pressure on the political leadership of the country to create a new system of military courts, the 21st Amendment earlier this year has even allowed for civilians to be tried in military courts on terrorism-related charges.

It is rather remarkable, then, that the same institution is so set on shielding some of its own from very serious allegations of financial mismanagement. Surely, the military does not want to reinforce perceptions that one set of standards applies to everyone else and another to the military alone?

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Afghan turbulence
Updated 19 Mar, 2024

Afghan turbulence

RELATIONS between the newly formed government and Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban rulers have begun on an...
In disarray
19 Mar, 2024

In disarray

IT is clear that there is some bad blood within the PTI’s ranks. Ever since the PTI lost a key battle over ...
Festering wound
19 Mar, 2024

Festering wound

PROTESTS unfolded once more in Gwadar, this time against the alleged enforced disappearances of two young men, who...
Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...