Panama Case Pakistan

Panama Case is one of the most popular cases in history of Pakistan. Panama Case in Pakistan is based on the leaked Panama Papers. These 11.5 million leaked documents contain the details about more than 214,488 offshore companies. These documents belonged to the Panamian law firm “Mossack Fonseca” and they were leaked in 2015.

Panama Papers revealed secret information about the ownership of offshore companies. Astonishingly there are many famous politicians, leaders, actors, businessmen and persons from all walks of life involved in this illegal ownership.

On the bases of these papers Imran Khan filed case against Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif in Supreme Court on the allegation of corruption, money laundering and eight offshore companies of Sharif’s family. According to Panama Papers, Sharif Family own 8 offshore companies. The Panama Case was heard from 1 November 2016 to 23 February 2017, and court reserved its judgments and later on 18^th April it was announced that judgment will be announced on 20^th April 2017.

Panama Case hearing saw many phases and after initial hearing Prime Minister’s lawyer presented a letter of Qatari Prince in the court. That Qatari letter became popular all over the country. After many dates of hearing finally the case was argued on 23 February 2017 by all parties. Panama Case is basically in the court on the petitions of Imran Khan, Sheikh Rashid and Siraj-ul-Haq. Overall Panama Case Pakistan is one of the most debated and popular cases in Pakistan’s History.

Panama Case Judgment in Pakistan

Finally a big judgment is delivered. Supreme Court judges announced that a JIT (Joint Investigation Team) will be made which will further investigate the case. Two judges in five judge bench in favor of removal of Prime Minister while three in favor of further investigation. So the score is 3-2.

Click on link below to download the complete Panama Case Judgement in PDF format.

Panama Case Judgement PDF

Kidney Failure Disease in Pakistan

End Stage Renal Disease which is commonly known as ESRD or Kidney failure is last stage of chronic kidney disease. It means that kidneys of patient have stopped working and he needs kidney transplant or dialysis for survival. Kidney Failure disease in Pakistan is increasing with threatening pace.

According to a recent study, around 20000 new patients of ESRD are emerging each year in Pakistan. The thousands of new patients are added every year with an alarming speed. Around 50 percent of those who develop ESRD, is due to some other health problem most importantly diseases like Diabetes. Many doctors’ believes that diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney stones are major reasons of this chronic disease.

Worldwide every 10^th person has some sort of kidney problem and 100 persons per million populations develop kidney failure (ERSD) each year. In Pakistan the situation is worst as there are approximately 20 million kidney patients out of population of 200 million. The reason behind this alarming number of kidney patients is the poor health facilities and hygiene facilities in Pakistan.

Diabetes and Kidney Failure

ESRD or kidney failure is closely associated with diabetes. Diabetes is the most common cause of Kidney Failure not only in the world but also in Pakistan. Around 6 to 7 percent of Pakistan’s population turns diabetic every year and this figure is increasing rapidly.

High Blood Pressure and Kidney Failure

Another most important cause of kidney failure is high blood pressure. According to an estimate around 26 percent adult population of Pakistan have High Blood Pressure and the numbers are increasing rapidly. Most important thing is that majority of these patients even don’t known about their disease or treats it casually.

Another major reason of kidney failure is inflammation of kidney. Most of time it is due to simple throat or skin infection that inflammation of kidneys occurs.

Treatment of Kidney Failure

The treatment of ESRD is very expensive. Once developed, patient needs transplantation of kidney or dialysis on regular basis. Dialysis cost about 30 to 40 thousand rupees a month for lifetime.

How to Protect Yourself from Kidney Disease or ESRD

• Avoid high-fat or high cholesterol diet
• Avoid high-sodium foods
• Avoid excessive proteins especially animal meat
• Maintain healthy amount of potassium in your body

World Kidney Day is global awareness campaign about important of kidneys and observed annually on second Thursday of March.

Criminal Justice System in Pakistan

Criminal Justice System is one of the most important ingredients of any society of the world. Criminal Justice System describes the offences, punishments, procedures and ways to punish those who break laws of the society. It is the Criminal Justice System which creates deterrence in society. Without effective Criminal Justice System, a society or country cannot survive for long. In today’s modern world the Criminal Justice System comprises of three main institutions i.e. Police, Prosecution and Judiciary. In almost all countries of the world, the system consists of these three main institutions although their names may vary from country to country.

Criminal Justice System in Pakistan also comprises of three basic institutions i.e. Police, Prosecution and Judiciary. Before 2007, there were only two institutions in Criminal Justice System i.e. Police and Judiciary and there was no concept of independent Prosecution Department in Pakistan. It was only after 2007 when all Provinces established independent and specialized Prosecution Departments. Due to its short life and other reasons, Prosecution is still not independent and fully functional in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System.

Problems in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System

The Criminal Justice System in Pakistan is outdated and in dismal condition. There are many reasons for this which I will explain later in this essay. The system in Pakistan is so much ineffective and outdated that it is very easy for any influential and wealthy person to get himself acquitted after committing any sort of offence. There are so many loopholes in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System that it becomes very easy for any offender to got clean chit from courts. For this reason the system also lost the confidence of people, especially educated strata of society who always try to resolve their disputes outside the Criminal Justice System.

In following lines I will explain the basic problems associated with the Criminal Justice System of Pakistan. As I mentioned earlier that it consists of three departments/institutions, so I will explain the problems in all three departments one by one.

Police in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System

Criminal Justice System starts with the Police or Investigating agency in almost all civilized societies of the world. In Pakistan it also starts with the investigation of Police. The basic root cause of failure of Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System lies with the Police. Police in Pakistan is the most corrupt institution of the country and corruption in Pakistan Police is beyond imaginations. Although basic purpose of Police Force is to protect the citizen but in Pakistan an ordinary citizen not only hates Police but always try to avoid the Police and all matters related with Police. Police Station is not a place for gentleman and every gentleman in Pakistan is afraid of going to Police Station even to register his genuine complaint.

Criminal Justice System comes into motion with investigation of Police and in Pakistan it is the very stage when most of cases are destroyed due to non-professional and corrupt investigation Officers. Any influential and wealthy accused can easily get the clean chit from police during investigation. When the case is so strong even then the accused can easily bribe the Investigation Officer and destroy the evidence which ultimately results in acquittal of accused in courts.

Unfortunately there is no distinction of Policing and Investigation in Pakistan. There is no specialized unit or force within police who is trained in investigation.  It means in Pakistan even the cases of homicide are regularly being investigated by the low ranked, non-professional, non-trained, low-paid and corrupt police officers. As a result, the case is being destroyed at the beginning by the IO or Investigating Officer.

Prosecution in Pakistan Criminal Justice System

As I mentioned earlier the Separate and Independent Prosecution Departments are established after 2006/07 in different provinces of Pakistan. Previously there was separate branch in Police known as Prosecution Branch and that Branch was responsible for the prosecution on behalf of state.  Although Provincial Governments established Prosecution Departments but they are toothless and have no powers in practice. Provincial Governments in Pakistan’s provinces so far fail to provide Prosecution with adequate resources and essential legislation which is essential for the working of modern day Criminal Justice System.

Prosecutor is powerless in Pakistan who is sandwiched between the two most powerful, authoritative and corrupt institutions of Pakistan i.e. Police and Judiciary. Prosecutor cannot direct Investigation Officer to properly collect the evidence during investigation, he is only authorized to scrutinize the investigation report after its completion and till that time, IO’s almost destroyed all important pieces of evidence. A Prosecutor can even not direct the Police Investigator to apply the correct section of law during investigation. Further even in case of no evidence, Prosecutor has no power to return the case back to police or drop the case but he has to forward it to the Magistrate after recording his opinion (that opinion is also worthless because it is not binding on court). Hence in practice Prosecutor in Pakistan only works as postman between Police and Judiciary.

The condition of Prosecution Departments is so disappointing that at most of the stations they don’t have their proper offices to work. So without any resources, proper legislation, government attention and spirit to work, the Prosecution Departments are only rubber stamps in Pakistan.

Judiciary in Pakistan Criminal Justice System

Although Government invested lot of money and resources in the Judiciary in last decade yet the institution is in bad shape and fails to deliver. In Criminal Justice System of Pakistan, judges are highly paid and have more resources than Police and Prosecution but their performance is disappointed. The acquittal rate is Pakistan’s courts is almost over 80 percent which means if  person commits crime in Pakistan he got 80 percent chances of acquittal in this system. Another major problem is the delayed justice as criminal cases are decided not in months but in years in Pakistani Courts.

There are many reasons for inefficiency of Courts in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System. First of all the case is being destroyed by the Police Investigator at investigation stage which means it always lacks the required level of evidence which is necessary for the conviction. In Pakistan, Lawyer Bar Councils are very powerful and influential bodies who virtually dictate their terms on courts and if lawyer want to prolong a case for months or even years, judge cannot stop him. This is also the main cause of delay in decision of cases. There is also rampant corruption in judiciary and a wealthy person can easily get clean chit from the courts with different tactics. Due to increasing perks and privileges in judiciary the levels of corruption are decreased in last one decade but there is still lot of room for the improvement.

Overall the Criminal Justice System in Pakistan is losing confidence of people due to its inefficiency. Government needs to pay special attention towards the Criminal Justice System in Pakistan because a country can live without resources but cannot survive when it lacks justice.

Author: Our Guest Writer Mr. Jibran Jamshed

Corruption in Pakistan Police

Corruption is like a slow poison which is killing the soul of our society slowly but surely. It is the scourge which is destroying the very fabric of our society. It is spread and settled in our society in such a manner that it is acceptable for everyone and even the one who refuses to earn money through corruption is considered as fool by majority of people. Although there is rampant corruption in almost all departments and all sphere of lives in Pakistan yet corruption in Pakistan Police has no parallels. According to surveys and reports of international organization and NGO’s Police is the most corrupt institution of Pakistan.

The situation is so deplorable that an honest police officer cannot survive in the department. To look deeper into the problem we have to discuss corruption in Pakistan Police under two heads. First there is Officer Cadre in Police (Officer with rank of DSP or above) and secondly there is official Cadre in Police (Police Officer with rank of Inspector, Sub Inspector, Assistant Sub Inspector and constables). The methods and moods of corruption are different for both classes of Police Officers.

Corruption in Officer Cadre of Police

When I am talking about Police High ups I mean police officer with rank of DSP (Deputy Superintendence of Police) or above. The corruption is officer Cadre of Police is different from that of corruption in lower Cadre. The most effective way of corruption in this class is through funds embezzlement by Police Officers. Govt. is spending billions of rupees for the betterment of Police ever year but those funds rarely reach below and most of them are wasted due to corruption of higher rank Police Officers.

In this regard one particular example can be given. For every investigation which is conducted by ASI, SI or Inspector Govt. provides a particular amount of fund. The purpose of this fund is that Investigating Officer (IO) can spend that money during the course of investigation but unfortunately rarely any IO in Pakistan ever receives that fund. In documents that fund is utilized according to law but in practice it is always go into the pockets of corrupt Police Officers.

Similarly all other sort of funds for Police Station like fund for maintenance of vehicles, vehicle petrol, stationary etc. never reach at the bottom and embezzled at the higher level.

This sort of corruption at higher level also is the source cause of corruption at lower level. When no funds reach at Police Station level, then IO’s and police officers of lower grade are forced to meet their expenditures through corruption. For example in case of vehicle maintenance funds, SHO are usually directed by the Police High Ups to upgrade all police vehicles without providing any funds to them. In return, SHO’s direct their IO’s provide money for that purpose and IO’s has no other way then to extract that money from the litigants or ordinary people with different excuses. In this way, the corruption at higher level which is less visible breeds more corruption at lower level of Police.

Corruption in Police at low level

This corruption involves the lower rank police officers like SHO, SI, ASI and constables. It is the face of corruption with which people are aware off because it is open and it directly affects the people. In every case registered in Police Station there is particular price which complainant has to pay to SHO. The price is different for different type of offence i.e. for more severe offences the bribe money is much higher than for petty offences.

After registration of case, there comes a stage of investigation and it is time for Investigation Officer (IO) to milk both complainant and accused. If complainant wants to get arrested his accused persons, he is not only responsible to provide information about accused but also has to give bribe to IO. He has to incur all the expenses like petrol of police vehicle, food of police officers and all other related expenses. Now here if accused offer more money to IO than complainant can do nothing.

The above mentioned is the only one face of corruption in police at lower level. There are many more methods and ways through which police extract money from the people or from the criminals. Organized criminals like owners of Brothel Houses, Drug dealers, wine suppliers etc. regularly pay the monthly tribute to the concerned SHO which is another source of permanent income for police. From this monthly income certain amount goes up to the higher police officers accordingly. Overall there are many techniques and methods used by the Police for corruption.

Pakistan Next Army Chief

In Pakistan position of Army Chief is more important than Prime Minister or President because of the paramount importance of this institution. Army is the most established and important institution of the Nuclear Armed Nation and always plays a vital role in every sphere of country’s life throughout its history. In present scenario when Pakistan is in difficult situation, internally and externally, the future course of country depends a lot on the person who will succeed General Raheel Sharif as Army Chief. The question with which we are dealing here is that who will be Pakistan next Army Chief?

General Raheel Sharif is considered as one of the most reputed and popular Army Chiefs in history because he took the charge of Army when country was in grave situation and steered the country from very difficult situation to a relative stability. His resolve to get rid of terrorist and clear the Pakistan’s territory form those foreign elements is praiseworthy. Furthermore he is not only the man of words but man of action. Through Operation in Karachi and Zarb-eAzab in tribal areas, he established the diminishing writ of state in these areas.

Who will be next Army Chief of Pakistan after Raheel Sharif ?

Although there are rumors and news about the tenure extension of General Raheel Sharif, yet General himself publically expressed that he will retire and will not accept any extension. In these circumstances, General Raheel Sharif will retire on 29 November 2016 along with current Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Rashid Mehmood.

Lt. General Zubair Mehmood Hayat had been appointed as Chief of Staff in April 2015 and the post is considered as an important position for grooming of next Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Another Strong Candidate for the post is General Qamar Javed Bajwa who is currently serving as Inspector General of Training and Evaluation. On 26 November 2016 PM Nawaz Sharif appointed  General Qamar Javed Bajwa as New Chief of Army Staff and appointed General Zubair Mehmood Hayat as Chairman Joint Chief of Staff.

General Qamar Javed Bajwa

On 26 November 2016, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif appointed General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the Army Chief of Pakistan. General Qamar Javed Bajwa is four-star Army General who is selected as 16th Army Chief of Pakistan Army is on No. 4 in seniority list. New Chief of Army Staff also served as Principle Staff Officer of retiring Army Chief General Raheel Sharif. For read more about General Qamar Javed Bajwa click on this link.

Lt. General Zubair Mehmood Hayat

Zubair Mehmood Hayat belongs to a family with deep-rooted army affiliations. His father, Major General Aslam Hayat served in Army. Other siblings of Zubair Mehmood Hayat are also serving in Armed forces. His brother Lt. General Omar Mahmood Hayat is the head of Ordnance Factories at Wah. Third Hayat brother, Major General Ahmad Mahmood Hayat is DG Analysis in ISI. Recently General Raheel Sharif gave the charge of the SPD and commanded Corps to Zubair Mehmood Hayat which also indicates his importance in the higher ranks of Army. Here it is worth mentioning that Zubair Mahmood is the not the senior most high rank officer in Army.

Although seniority is an important criterion for the appointment of Army Chief, yet it was seldom followed. The current Army Chief Raheel Sharif himself superseded 2 seniors to become Army Chief. In the past General Zia ul Haq was appointed by PM Bhutto as an Army Chief by superseding 7 senior Officers.