After high-profile arrests

After high-profile arrests

Former president Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson, has been arrested after his legal battle to avoid arrest ended on Monday when the Islamabad High Court cancelled his pre-arrest bail. The National Assembly speaker must now issue a production order to ensure that he can attend the budget session. In August last, Mr Zardari had first secured a pre-arrest bail following media reports that the National Accountability Bureau had started an inquiry it believed would link him to certain fake bank accounts used for money laundering. The arrest has raised many an eyebrow as a government representative had publicly predicted ahead of the IHC order that Mr Zardari was going to be behind bars. The accountability watchdog could have avoided the impression of political victimization by not arresting him at this stage; particularly so as Mr Zardari had been fully cooperating with the NAB investigators. Several members of the ruling party, including some ministers, are facing NAB inquiries but have not been arrested.
A day after the Zardari arrest, the NAB also arrested Hamza Shahbaz, the leader of the opposition in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, in cases alleging money laundering and possession of assets beyond known means. These back-to-back high profile arrests could bring the two main opposition parties closer to wage a joint anti-government struggle at a time when the government is going to present a budget likely to introduce several harsh measures. Many political workers, traders, lawyers and public sector employees have already been complaining of an economic crunch that has coincided with the inception of the PTI government. The arrests of Asif Zaradri and Hamza Shahbaz were followed shortly afterwards by workers of their parties taking to the streets in protest. These were spontaneous, isolated incidents. A formal call for protest by party leadership might come any time. The government appears hell bent to push the mainstream opposition into agitation mode. It is clearly not taking any chances on the filing of references against superior court judges being enough. With some justification, it is being accused of having a policy of suppressing dissenting voices in politics, judiciary, media and civil society.
Calling the arrests an act of political victimisation, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto has described NAB’s actions a violation of the Article 10-A of the Constitution which guarantees every citizen’s right to fair trial. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif also sees the government and the NAB in a nexus to mount a witch-hunt against leaders of opposition parties. There are elements of truth in both assertions. The working of the NAB calls for reforms in the accountability process.