What is common between Khadija Shah — who was accused of participating in the vandalism that was witnessed on May 9, 2023 — Intezar Hussain Panjutha — Imran Khan's lawyer who went missing in the first week of October and was recovered from Attock by Punjab police under extremely mysterious circumstances last week — and Abdul Rahim Rabbani — a Pakistani national who spent 18 years in the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where he was denied basic human rights and by Pakistani government upon his return and who died two days back in Karachi? Nothing. But they are linked through a common thread of narrative revolving around our criminal justice system and the Pakistani military's dominance of a coercive machinery of the state.
Firstly, stories of all three made headlines in Pakistani news outlets in recent days. Secondly, the ordeals of all three of them narrate a story of how the powerful can twist and bend Pakistan's criminal justice system while the weak must suffer miseries and utter helplessness in life and even in death at the hands of the criminal justice system. Their stories, which, one way or another, relate to the operation of the criminal justice system in our country, tell all and sundry that if they want to survive the dreads of our criminal justice system, they must have lots and lots of money. But there is one exception: even if you are rich and engage in political dissent, you can still suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system or lack of it.
Last week, a small news story in the newspaper said that Khadija Shah would share a high table with the newly-appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan on prison reforms, which came as a shock. What would become of the strong statements coming out from GHQ after every crop commander's meeting that no one involved in the May 9 attacks would be spared?
Khadija Shah is a rich woman who, in a video clip which went viral in the wake of the May 9 attacks, could be seen shouting slogans at the top of her lungs while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and activists vandalised the Corps Commander's residence in Lahore. Her grandfather was a former Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) in the early 1990s, and her American connections also came in handy. She was hunted for months and finally arrested from a private residence in Lahore. Her influential family ran from pillar to post and tried to influence the military top brass but was repeatedly told that the military had made up its mind that no one involved in the May 9 attacks would be spared. Then suddenly, General Asim Munir pays a visit to Washington on December 11, 2023, and Khadija Shah is granted bail by the lower courts on December 28, 2023.
Lessons: If you are rich and have American connections and your relatives have access to the ears of the Army Chief or other members of the top brass, even your worst and unpardonable crimes could be pardoned. Last week, a small news story in the newspaper said that Khadija Shah would share a high table with the newly-appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan on prison reforms, which came as a shock. What would become of the strong statements coming out from GHQ after every crop commander's meeting that no one involved in the May 9 attacks would be spared? I am ready not to be cynical in my analysis of Khadija Shah's case — she is a decent person from a decent family — but what about dozens of those seemingly "indecent" workers and activists of PTI who come from poor families and whose families have no American or military connections? Will they continue to languish in prisons? Cannot they also share a high table with either Chief Justice or COAS, after they and Khadija Shah must have undergone similar experiences as prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Pakistani political system, its administrative structures and its state machinery are being run on the axioms that consider political dissent as something alien to our political culture. A modern society cannot function without a continuous, persistent and self-sustaining political culture
But wait a minute, not all rich and well-off people are immune from the ruthlessness of Pakistani state machinery and dread of Pakistan's criminal justice system or the lack of it. Especially if you are engaging in political dissent, you are doomed in the face of mindless and opportunistic operations of Pakistan's criminal justice system and the ruthless state machinery. I present the ordeal of Intezar Hussain Panjutha as a case in point. He went missing on October 7, 2024. The superior courts kept clamouring for his early recovery. Intelligence services denied they were involved in his absence. Police were confused and clueless. But then suddenly, on November 3, news channels started broadcasting a video clip of Intezar Panjutha's recovery from Attock. Wearing a black shalwar Kurta and a slightly grown beard, Panjutha narrated his ordeal to a questioner who couldn't be seen in the video. He said he was being transported from one place to another in a motor carfor the past month. He said his kidnappers had severely beaten him. Police said they recovered Panjutha from a vehicle which was made to stop at a police picket. The people in the car started firing at the police officers before fleeing, leaving a handcuffed Panjutha behind. Panjutha is a well-off person and a practising lawyer. So, in Pakistan, even a rich person can suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system or the absence of it from society.
The Pakistani political system, its administrative structures and its state machinery are being run on the axioms that consider political dissent as something alien to our political culture. A modern society cannot function without a continuous, persistent and self-sustaining political culture. If there exists any vibrancy in our political system, it is because of the political dissent practised in one form or another in our society. In modern and democratic systems, dissent runs like blood in the veins of the political system. World history is a witness that all the world's greatest religions and revolutionary philosophies are an outcome of dissent of one kind or another. Therefore, what Panjutha has been doing is something which gives life to our political system.
Rabbani was not issued a national identity card by the government of Pakistan after his release, due to which he was not able to get himself admitted to a government hospital for treatment after he fell ill. His family said that they even faced difficulty in arranging a proper burial for Rabbani as graveyards refused entry to the funeral
Most miserable, however, is the case of Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, a Pakistani national who spent 20 years in the CIA-run Guantanamo Bay prison. He died in Karachi, his home city, after a prolonged illness due to the lack of proper medical care. Rabbani had suffered heavy torture at the hands of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) throughout his 20 years of detention at the Guantanamo Bay prison. His brother, Muhammad Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, who also spent 20 years in the American prison, told the media in Pakistan that his brother was denied basic rights by the government of Pakistan even after his release from Guantanamo Bay. Rabbani was not issued a national identity card by the government of Pakistan after his release, due to which he was not able to get himself admitted to a government hospital for treatment after he fell ill. His family said that they even faced difficulty in arranging a proper burial for Rabbani as graveyards refused entry to the funeral procession carrying Rabbani's remains in the absence of a proper ID card. Rabbani spent a total of 545 days outside of Guantanamo Bay prison. He, along with his brother, had been arrested by Pakistani intelligence on a tip-off from the American CIA and then handed him over to the American CIA in 2004, but not before they had spent some 18 months in Pakistani prisons.
Former Pakistani president Pervaiz Musharraf writes in his autobiography that Pakistani security services received large amounts of cash in return for handing over suspected terrorists to the American CIA in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The Pakistani military government came under scathing criticism for handing over Pakistanis to the American CIA during the so-called 'War against Terror'. In the initial years of the so-called war against terror, Pakistani security forces picked up many known terrorists from different cities of Pakistan in joint operations with the American CIA. Rabbani and his brother were apparently cases of mistaken identity as they did not have any criminal records in Pakistan. During their detention in the Guantanamo Bay prison, the CIA did not charge either brother for any crime. The US Administration's practice of keeping terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, a US military detention facility established in Cuba, after the September 11, 2001, attacks, without trials, drew widespread condemnation. International human rights groups criticised the facility for violating detainees' rights to due process, with allegations of extreme interrogation techniques amounting to torture, including waterboarding and prolonged isolation.
During his 18 years in Guantanamo Bay prison, he was never charged with any crime. The Pakistani government also never charged him with any crime during the 18 months he spent in their custody nor after his return to Pakistan from Guantanamo Bay
During his years-long detention, Americans subjected Rabbani to severe torture, his brother told the media in Pakistan. "Both his legs and arms were broken," he said, adding, "The authorities at Guantanamo Bay prison subjected him to injections, which led to his permanent illness". Pakistani human rights organisations widely condemned the then-military government of General Pervaiz Musharraf for handing over Pakistani nationals to the Americans for $5,000 each. After coming under criticism from US human rights organisations, US President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Barack Obama, promised to close the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. But nothing would come out of these promises. It is believed that the Guantanamo Bay prison still holds dozens of prisoners - many of whom are Pakistanis.
Our criminal justice system treats the helpless and the poor, like Rabbani, as the ultimate criminals. During his 18 years in Guantanamo Bay prison, he was never charged with any crime. The Pakistani government also never charged him with any crime during the 18 months he spent in their custody nor after his return to Pakistan from Guantanamo Bay. This has to be sufficient evidence that he was innocent. Yet, Rabbani suffered the ultimate misery at the hands of American and Pakistani intelligence services on God knows what pretext.
Every honourable person in this society who engages in political dissent should be afraid of his fate. Political dissent should be practiced as a matter of routine in our society. It should not become a reason for kidnapping
Khadija Shah was vehemently accused of being involved in vandalism, and the military top brass repeatedly vowed they would not spare anyone involved in the May 9 attacks. The Americans who made Rabbani's life a living hell and their fear amongst the Pakistani state machinery even made his death miserable by denying him a proper ID card, also compelled the Pakistani military top brass to treat Khadija Shah as a VIP. So much so that today, she has been given a seat at the high table with the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Panjutha's video made my skin cold. Every honourable person in this society who engages in political dissent should be afraid of his fate. Political dissent should be practiced as a matter of routine in our society. It should not become a reason for kidnapping.
All three stories narrated in this piece somehow tell the story of how the military and its intelligence agencies dominate Pakistan's coercive apparatus. So much so that they can throw anybody into jail and bring anybody out of jail with a snap of their fingers. Moreover, they can simply make anybody disappear from the scene. This criminal justice system could be a source of reward for some, while it becomes a source of punishment for others. And these decisions are not made based on the law or its merits. These decisions are made based on how influential you are and how deep your pocket is. A British journalist who spent years reporting in Pakistan once told me that the law is not enforced or implemented in Pakistan; it is negotiated. If the Pakistani state and law cannot protect people like Panjutha and Rabbani, all the paraphernalia of law, justice and courts are merely an eyewash. Your tanks, guns, aircraft, and missiles are just toys for the boys if they cannot protect the citizens of this country. And if all this paraphernalia, military formations, slick uniforms and greatly inflated political clout that you have amassed inside and outside the country is only meant to protect people like Khadija Shah, mark my words, this country is destined either for anarchy or a bloody revolution.