KARACHI, Feb 28: The trial of former senator Asif Zardari is not aimed at accountability but is a revengeful act as the prosecution has failed to prove charges in all references during the last six years of his continuous imprisonment.
The best way of Ehtesab is holding free, fair and impartial elections regularly where people’s verdict is final.
This was the consensus opinion at a seminar organized on ‘accountability or revenge and senator Asif Ali Zardari’ by the divisional organization of the Pakistan People’s Party at a local hotel on Thursday.
Prof Ghafoor Ahmad of Jamaat-i-Islami, Dr Abdul Hai Baloch of the Baloch National Movement, Shah Mohammad Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), and PPP leaders Aitzaz Ahsan, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and Taj Haider were among the speakers.
Describing the trail as revenge, Aitzaz Ahsan said that sitting rulers should be held accountable as was the famous trail of US presidents Nixon and Bill Clinton who were made to face the judge when they were still in power. The ongoing process against those who were out of power cannot be called accountability, and it was nothing but revenge and a cowardice act on the part of authorities, he said.
Stressing the need for a powerful, permanent accountability commission, the former PPP MNA said his party had been facing accountability from the days of Ayub Khan, Gen Ziaul Haq, Ishaque Khan, and Farooq Leghari. However, he added, the prosecution had failed to prove its charges. The only case in which Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto had been convicted was that in which the appellate court not only set aside the judgment but also showed the door to the judge for passing a biased order, he pointed out.
Prof Ghafoor said that in view of the so-called accountability it was easy for Asif Zardari to get him freed under a deal with the authorities but the former senator, he added, preferred to face the trial and tribulation instead of bargaining on principles.
The JI leader said that Asif was sent behind bars during the Nawaz Sharif government and added that the then Ehtesab bureau head Saifur Rehman after visiting the UK and Switzerland had claimed that he had discovered the assets and foreign currency accounts of Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto, including the Rockwood House. But, the JI leader added, Saifur Rehman had failed to prove a single charge despite handing over Asif to police and other agencies.
Also during the present military government, said Prof Ghafoor, Asif was still languishing in prison despite the fact that he had been granted bail in all cases.
Mr Khuhro traced the history of ongoing fight between the establishment and people from the days of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and said it was the establishment that had been repeatedly attempting to demolish the political system and politicians in the country so that they get a free hand and no one should be there to question their actions.
Asif, he observed, had become a symbol of resistance by preferring to suffer in prison rather than buying freedom from the establishment.
Dr Hai said that the establishment, instead of accepting the sovereignty of people, had been running the affairs on the ad hoc basis. He held the establishment responsible for the horse trading culture.
Demanding release not only of Asif Zardari but all other political prisoners, he said that the accountability process was being used for changing loyalties.
Shah Mohammad Shah said that until civil and military bureaucracy was cut to size, the country would continue to be derailed after every five or 10 years. He said the country had been ruled by military and civil bureaucracy for most of the years of its existence, disallowing the democratic process to flourish.
The PML leader said that without a political process in the country, the civil society could not be built. “Terrorism, sectarianism and ethnic riots are the outcome of negation of the political process,” he maintained. However, he stressed that political parties should also change their attitude and learn tolerance and respect the mandate of people.