As we approach the next series of elections, more of the previous shenanigans will lead to chaos. All political parties are throwing mud at one another. The number of scans, leaks, gates, fake news, fake books etc., are multiplying. It would appear useless to list more of them. We need to look at what can be done to avoid repetition in the future.

One factor stands out all above the rest is that our foreign exchange debts have about doubled in a few years to about dollars 70 billion. With the setting up of CPEC and OBOR, and with the accession of Trump to leadership in the USA, that the whole world is in a state of rigorous fermentation. The centre of world finance has shifted!

It is clear that the established laws of different countries are inadequate to take care of this disequilibrium. The other day the author came across a booklet “Crimes and Punishment in Islam” by the late Justice Muhammad Sharif of the Supreme Court. He has given his views on evidence:

“The competency and the credibility of the witnesses. Broadly speaking, evidence may be (1) direct or hearsay; (2) circumstantial. But circumstantial evidence can be acted up only if it is of a conclusive nature. For instance, if a person is seen coming out from anybody’s house in fear and anxiety with a knife covered with blood in his hand and in the house a dead body is found with a throat cut, these facts will be regarded as a proof that the person who was seen coming out committed the murder (Sir Abdur Rahim, Muhammadan Jurisprudence, pp. 381-2). Hadrat Yusuf’s innocence was established by circumstantial evidence (xii, 26-27).”

It is more than clear to any manager/administrator of average competence that there are many bloodied knives with rivers of dripping blood when SOPs are not defined. We refuse to accept the reality of what has happened by taking refuge under the argument that the evidence is not there. White-collar crime gets away with murder! Technology outwits the law. Set a thief to catch a thief.

The fact that it takes ages in law to progress forward reasonably quickly amounts to injustice. It is of interest to note in the early years of Islam that attention was paid to the Mazalim (complaint) courts whose authority was final as they operated within the executive (not judiciary). It is of further interest to note that non-Islamic countries also faced a problem of “knives with rivers of blood” which led to inhuman delays inherent in “due process”.

In England in the 11/12 century such cases were taken away from the Common Law Courts and handed over the Lord Chancellor, who used his commonsense, dispensed with due process and paid attention to equity and morality (istehsan). The Holy Prophet (pbuh) when he sat in judgment, did so neither as Chief justice nor as Auditor General but as Chief Executive. The Khalifas followed the same pattern. The 5th Ummayid Khlifa Abdul Malik bin Marwan helped to systemise this approach and the organisation was called Walayat al-mazalim or Al-Nazar Fiqh Al-Mazalim which would analyse complaints regarding “injustice” and take quick action.

Napoleon strengthened a similar system in France in the beginning of the 19th century. Beyond question it insured the administrative survival of several French Republics. This pattern was also adopted by other European countries. Such administrative (mazalim) courts are independent of judiciary. Since they do away with lengthy expensive legal process it helped to obtain equitable judgements or istehsan in good time. The thing to be remembered is that time is a resource and technology is the driving force.

Our operational set up for accountability is one in which the Naib Qasid gets it in the neck and the seniors on the job go out of the country, usually on account of ill health! Historically we have had four martial Laws that have catalyzed the resultant increasing corruption since 1960. This has led to the aggrieved citizenry to expect “suo moto’s”.

Merit and transparency go together and make it possible to hold individuals accountable, but this is not possible at present (ask one our legal brethren). What we need today is to ensure transparency in our dealings, both internationally and nationally and amongst ourselves. We need to understand one of the major reasons, that the so-called mother of parliaments does not have a written Constitution, is because they understand the English tongues much better than we do. If a bridge collapses we question the contractor and structural engineer. If a Constitution does not lead to the welfare of a common man we need to question the legal profession and ask them to put their house in order. After all who else? To the layman such as myself it is incongruous that a few pages of a Constitution can lead to half of the top legals claiming there are twenty elephants in the room and the other half after wearing goggles cannot see them. Sir A P Herbert a humorous of old once said “factum clarum jus nebulosum — the clearer the facts, the more dubious the law, (J Mudd concurred)”.

A well known historical character asked what is truth, and would not stay for an answer. May the twenty elephants be as “pilable to feeling as to sight”.

In all these shenanigans, both international and local, we need to find out “who benefits”. Dear readers, ask yourself if the USA stops its 60 billion dollar exports of military ammunition and equipment to the rest of the world what will happen? Less wars? Also work out who benefited from WWI and WW II and also work out who is benefiting from the major hostilities the world over? They are the real enemies of humankind.

The biggest error General Musharraf made during his rule was to head civilian organisations with military personnel. It has to be remembered that the military is trained for the next war, not peace. So it would be wrong to blame them, who had no experience of running civil organisations, to succeed first time off the cuff. How do you determine system consistency? In the military a transfer from one unit to another does not cause any inconsistencies because the SOPs are known and the penalties for not following them can be serious. On the civil side such a transfer from a law and order culture to an education culture needs time. An Air force pilot needs conversion training when moving from one manufacturer’s plane to another. And time is a resource.

This does not absolve the civil side of their faults. The sine waves of Martial Laws leave a storm behind them.

Normally, to proceed ahead it is necessary to understand the requirements of technology which are changing. The West has chosen their way. We have to choose our way or be swallowed up by the quicksands of time.

It bears repetition, consistent with Allama Iqbal’s vision, that in this age it is the applications of science i.e. technology, which is the basis of acquiring strength all sorts. Our younger generation have to find ways consistent with our culture to incorporate the increasing discipline. The methodology may require phasing in of a mindset change. This is what we should be looking forward to wake up, and I pray we don’t behave like the poor proverbial ostrich again and again.