Absolut Justice

By Amir Zia

January 2012

Newsline

Even mighty feudal lords, tyrant tribal chiefs, dishonest businessmen and industrialists, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians and the dreaded men in khaki appear like pygmies and their crimes small, compared with Atiqa Odho’s allegedly serious crime of carrying two bottles of liquor in the country.

On December 10, a magistrate in Rawalpindi framed charges against one of Pakistan’s leading television artistes, Atiqa Odho, for carrying two bottles of liquor in her luggage while travelling on a domestic flight. If proven guilty, Odho can get a maximum punishment of 30 lashes and two years in prison, which many pious people among us feel is too little for this gravest of grave offences.


The long arm of the law moved against Odho on the insistence of none other than the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose integrity, impartiality and righteousness remains beyond doubt and is the stuff fit for folklore. He is an honourable and honest man and holds no malice in his heart against anyone. All his actions and intentions are for the greater public good and the country. No wonder Justice Chaudhry – a hero of heroes and a darling of the opposition and media alike – lived up to his reputation when, despite all the pressing work of administering justice on scores of high profile political and not-so-political cases, he initiated a suo moto action against Odho. The artist allegedly got preferential treatment from the customs staff at the Islamabad Airport and was apparently allowed to walk away with the heavy load of two liquor bottles in June 2011.

Now it’s Odho’s responsibility to prove her innocence. Odho’s repeated assertions that she doesn’t drink and was framed in a ‘crime’ she never committed, holds no ground. However, proverbial ‘blind justice’ will take its course. All of Odho’s dreaded powers and influence, which she enjoys as an artist and a woman in Pakistan, won’t work as everyone is equal in the court of law. Even mighty feudal lords, tyrant tribal chiefs, dishonest businessmen and industrialists, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians and the dreaded men in khaki appear like pygmies and their crimes small, compared with Odho’s allegedly serious crime of carrying two bottles of liquor in the country. Just imagine how many people could have got drunk or tipsy from the liquor in these two bottles, and created a law-and-order situation or maybe even a security challenge. Let Odho say whatever she wants in her own defence, including her claim that she was unaware of the illegal package. Her trial – and a probable conviction – will serve as a lesson and a stern warning to all those who violate and trample the law in every city, town and village of Pakistan, all the time. Yes, we should all hail and salute our honourable, honest chief justice and the judiciary for this achievement, which will help establish the rule of law in this land of the pure.

There are some foolish people who say that Odho should have been allowed to walk free following the confiscation of the two bottles, as happens in the case of 99.9% of the passengers, who are caught by our hardworking and vigilant customs staff. Since the Odho example, all those well connected air travellers, who smuggle liquor in their hand luggage upon returning to the motherland from Dubai, Bangkok or other foreign destinations, must have stopped this practice.

The honourable members of the judiciary must be aware of the fact that in the pre-Odho case days, passengers walked away with bags full of liquor – all sorts of Scotch, single malts, whites, reds, golden etc. ‘Unconnected passengers,’ who carried only a couple of bottles escaped from the airport with the sheer force of their confidence. If caught, they would haggle with custom officials and usually get out by sacrificing a bottle or two, or parting with some foreign or local currency. The connected ones often received an official escort at the aircraft door and walked away with trolley-loads of liquor. Following the chief justice’s suo moto – and Odho’s indictment – all this must have stopped.

The fruits of Odho’s case won’t remain confined to airports alone. The parties and evenings of other high and mighty, along with the ordinary ones, in every strata of our society must have gone dry following this case. Even New Year celebrations will be in line with the law and the customs and values of this Islamic Republic, with only hot Indian and western dance numbers to give people a high on a cold December-January night.

The honourable chief justice must also be aware of the fact that many key lawyers, including some veterans who remained at the forefront – and on his right and left – in the famous lawyers’ movement struggling for his reinstatement, are known not just for possessing liquor, but for drinking it too. The chief justice can ask a veteran and knowledgeable lawyer, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, about it under oath. He will learn the truth from Ahsan, and we pray to his Lordship to initiate a suo moto against them as well.

Action against possessing and drinking liquor must take precedence over all the other crimes, including child-rape and murder, religious extremism and terrorism, gun running, drugs, smuggling, graft and corruption etc. All these can wait. Possessing and drinking liquor is the mother of all crimes. It needs to be sorted out first and foremost, and the case against Odho will go a long way in establishing the rule of the law in the country. It will set a precedence and underline the fact that all are equal in our beloved chief justice’s court.

We also hope that with Odho’s indictment, bootleggers will stop selling locally manufactured legal liquor to Muslims. The sales of local liquor manufacturers must have taken a big hit, and in recent days they must be thinking of closing shop.

Ours is a society of hypocrites who cheat by appearance. It is good to know that everyone, from the chief justice down to the magistrate who indicted Odho, is waging a holy war against this hypocrisy. Our numerous poets, writers, artists and journalists, who drink and can’t think of an evening without it, must be in a state of doom and gloom seeing Odho suffer. People like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Habib Jalib, Sadeqain, Ahmed Faraz, Josh Maleehabadi and host of others should thank their stars – if they can – that they lived and died long before Justice Chaudhry’s court existed and suo motos took place. What General Zia-ul-Haq could not accomplish with his hudood and anti-liquor laws, Justice Chaudhry will accomplish with a suo moto.