Summary Govt caved in to pressure generated by NGOs and the way political parties - including PTI - behaved
Analysis by Abdul Moeed Pirzada
This question may look preposterous at this stage but the way Nawaz govt caved in to pressure generated by NGOs and the way Political Parties - including PTI - behaved it will soon become a reality. East India Company also entered Mughal India as a small trading enterprise but ended up ruling India. What is happening is not a battle for Justice by an NGO; this is a battle to control policy making in an age of global interdependence, through lies, cheating, bluff and outright blackmail. See the three photos I have attached with this blog and keep them in mind as you read along...
What is the reality of Birth Certificate? Earlier, I had pointed out that Birth Certificate, if obtained much later has to be substantiated by some records. Records can be Birth & Death Registers, Hospital Records, Midwife Records, School Entering or Leaving Records, Official Examination Cards, Property documents with dates of birth or Form-B of the pre-NADRA era Registration Authority. In this case, a Town Committee in Neelum Valley has issued a Birth Certificate simply on the basis of an affidavit by the family.
Though apparently it was done as per procedure but in a case of life and death no court or government agency can accept this a Proof of Age. NGO also knows that; they only want to use this as a tool for spreading confusion, for building pressure, for delaying process of law and they hope to get a Medical Board. Once they get a decision for Medical Board they will then find technical and legal issues around its constitution, composition, its methodology and so on. Then it will open doors to new litigation in courts around Medical Board. Public will soon forget about the actual issue, new unnecessary battles will be created. This is not about the life of a man; this is to create deadlock around the whole system. Real intention is to undermine Capital Punishment in Pakistan without challenging it from the front. Game is to prove that system is so flawed that innocent juveniles are being hanged. And that is why it is so important for all right minded citizens to fight this game.
This battle that has fooled so many educated Pakistanis was never about "innocence" or mistaken identity. NGO never claimed that Shafqat Hussain did not seduce and murder a 7 year old Umair Siddiqui who if alive would have been 18 year old son of his proud parents. What about their child s right to life? What about their human right to seek justice? NGO is fighting this on a technical ground that Shafqat Hussain was a juvenile, he was only 14 when convicted. This was nothing but dishonest smart lawyering, an afterthought to exploit loopholes in system. Imagine how easy it is to fool people if you dress modern and speak a bit of English that so many people on social media, without seeing any evidence whatsoever of age 14, actually believe that state of Pakistan has to give an answer on age issue. How come a juvenile of age 14 was tried. To support this contention they have managed to obtain a birth certificate from Neelum Valley.
When we first heard, of this story we also decided to oppose this execution. In our first meeting, with my producer Tahir Khan and team, we thought, we suspected that since govt of Pakistan is very incompetent it may end up hanging a person who might have been a juvenile which will soon destroy the tough initiative which state has taken against all kind of criminal elements. But before taking a position we went into research. We got hold of court records, police records, talked to police, lawyers, sent reporters and talked to local people in New Town Karachi around Nadeem Arcade where Umair and his parents lived and where Shafqat Hussain, then around 23 worked as a Chowkidar. Dunya News teams joined in from Karachi, from Lahore and from Azad Kashmir.
From multiple sources we found out that how Shafqat Hussain, who knew Umair s father and whom that innocent child trusted was lured into his chowkidar room for seduction and fondling. (I will show you a rabbit) And when child realized his seducer s intention, reacted and wanted to run, to report this to his father, then Shafqat Hussain hit him with a heavy wooden shaft. Perhaps (according to his own confession) he only wanted to frighten him, to make him unconscious but ended up killing him on 10th Arpil 2004. He threw his dead-body into a sewage ravine (nalla) and joined the parents into a search. Once assured that no one suspects him, he started to make phone calls (from 12th April onward) demanding huge amounts from the father. (child was already dead and disposed) He started with millions but finally settled for Rs. 4 lakhs which were deposited into a wooden box, as per his demand, under the stairs but was caught red handed because parents had alerted Police and Police had involved CPLC for help and some of the phone calls were also recorded. Shafqat Hussain lead Police to the dead body of Umair. His Mugshots which you see are from the week when body was recovered and the case was proved.
Anti Terror Court, ATC-III awarded him double death penalty for Sec. 302 and 365-A of ATA-1997. In Sindh High Court, Shafqat Hussain took the plea that he did not want to kill Umair, he did not have the intention and High Court Judge accepted that and commuted his death sentence under S. 302 to 5 year imprisonment. However he could not get rid of conviction under 365-A of ATA which relates to "Abduction for Ransom". Whether Abduction for Ransom or crimes like Gang Rape should be part of ATA and penalized by Capital Punishment is a decision of Pakistani parliament. I would personally be against Capital Punishment where intention to kill or murder did not exist but this is another debate. And I always talk of Police Reform and Depoliticization because I know Pakistani Police can do wonders if depoliticized.
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Those who watch our programs will remember we also had severely criticized Islamabad High Court for taking off conviction of Mumtaz Qadri under Anti-Terror sections. We took Justice Tariq Mehmood into program who explained the difference between "intention and effect". Islamabad High Court probably concluded that Qadri s intention was not terrorize but our contention was that Qadri terrorized the whole society and this uneven application of Anti-Terror Legislation is creating problems, for instance Rangers Sepoy who shot Sarfaraz in Karachi should have been tried for excessive use or abuse of force but not terrorism. This is what many people now point out when they argue that Shafqat Hussain should not have tried under ATA. However they don t realize that Shafqat was not tried for spreading fear but for Abduction for Ransom which is 365-A of ATA. May be Barrister Sarah Belal should have focused on this issue - if she did then she would have created larger good for public and society.
Anyway even when we - several teams inside Dunya News - had not discovered photos we knew Shafqat Hussain was not 12 or 13 or 14 but around 22 or 23 as we had traced the nature of events and their relationship with each other which is the most important thing for reaching to a conclusion. But as responsible media it was our challenge to bring facts to the public which we have done and are still doing - many Dunya News Reporters are still working on it. I have been talking to Rehan Hashmi and Rana Liaqat and Aslam Mir as I was writing. But we are disappointed from the cowardice of this government; how easy it is for western backed NGO s to blackmail the state of Pakistan by creating any issue. Interior Minister, Ch Nisar and Prime Minister needs to have a spine. May be our efforts help to give them some courage and may be this helps Imran Khan s PTI to remind them to think twice before taking positions on public policy issues. About PPP, nothing said the better..!!
