THIS refers to the story ‘Nawaz went abroad by defeating system, says IHC judge’ (Oct 1). The judge also observed that in future the federal government should consider how to let someone go abroad and at how much cost.

However, I feel that the federal government should not be blamed for letting Nawaz Sharif proceed to London for medical treatment. It all started with the three-member Supreme Court bench headed by the then chief justice, giving Nawaz Sharif an unprecedented six-week bail for seeking treatment of his choice.

The same objective could have been achieved by allowing Nawaz Sharif to choose treatment facilities of his choice in Pakistan while remaining a prisoner under police guard.

Also, although Nawaz Sharif went abroad with the federal government’s permission, the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s role cannot be entirely ruled out. We know that on a slight delay in grant of permission to leave the country, the LHC wanted a guarantee from the government that Nawaz Sharif would live during that period.

The federal government had also asked the Sharif family to submit an indemnity bond for Rs7-7.5 billion, which was waived by the LHC.

However, far more distressing in the context of the broader judicial system is a recent report according to which a teenage victim who was gang-raped in July last year committed suicide by jumping into a well.

Most probably owing to faulty police investigation, the rapists got out on bail and started blackmailing the victim, threatening to make the sordid video public, and that proved just too much for the girl. On the other hand, the main character in the motorway gang rape case has not been arrested yet.

The whole justice-administration system in the country seems to have gone haywire.

S.R.H. Hashmi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2020