Politics in Pakistan has always been like Hollywood and Bollywood movies full of thrill, action, suspense, conspiracies and drama – and just like showbiz personalities, the country’s politicians as well as judges are often caught on tape engaging in scandalous or fraudulent activities.
Such incidents are reported in other countries of the world as well and several powerful figures have even had to quit their offices after video evidence of their immor- al activities surfaced. In Pakistan, however, there has been no such example and every leaked video or audio has been dubbed as fake and tampered by those found involved in any wrongdoing.
Former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who is also the official spokesperson for party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, is the latest victim of a leaked video scandal.
The video footage comprising various clips, apparently made from a mobile phone, showing Mr Zubair engaged in sex acts with an unidentified woman went viral first on social media and later in the mainstream media.
An unknown commentator is heard in the clip alleging the former governor abused a number of women who sought his help in getting some jobs when he was the governor of the Sindh province.
The clip allegedly showing the PML-N leader in a bedroom with a blurred-out face of a woman spread like a wildfire with #ZubairUmar becoming the top trend on Pakistani Twitter and it generated a debate on the social media. Some were found discussing the authenticity of the footage and the others discussing as to how the footage was leaked and who could be behind this dirty game.
The mainstream media, which was initially in a state of quandary over the issue of airing the news about the leaked video, got an opportunity to do so when Mr Zubair himself came up with a response through his official social media account on Twitter, terming the video footage “fake and doctored” and a “new low in politics”.
Mr Zubair, who served as the Sindh governor during the previous PML-N government, said: “Whosoever is behind this has done an extremely poor and shameful act. I have served my country with honesty, integrity and commitment. Will continue to raise my voice for betterment of Pakistan”.
Incidentally, Zubair is a brother of Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar.
Soon after the video leak, TV Anchor Gharidah Farooqi tweeted that Zubair intended to conduct a forensic audit of the video. However, there has been complete silence on the issue since.
PML-N’s vice-president Maryam Nawaz very intelligently played down the incident and kept herself away from the controversy, terming it a “personal matter”, and declared in categorical terms that Zubair would continue to work as the official spokesperson for her and Nawaz Sharif.
Such private videos of anyone should not come out, she said while informally talking to reporters in Lahore days after the release of the controversial video clips, adding that those who thought that Zubair would be removed from the post of spokesperson after the video surfaced were wrong.
“The matter is between Zubair and Allah Almighty,” she said concluding her conver- sation on the issue, leaving no option for the reporters to discuss the matter any further.
Earlier, without elaborating, Ms Sharif had claimed that Muhammad Zubair had been “receiving threats” for a while. Although she did not name any individual or institution, her remarks were sufficient to be understood by political analysts and those who know the power politics in the country.
While defending her own act of releasing the video of the former accountability judge, Maryam said that she “doesn’t have anyone’s private video” and that the video of the judge, who later died due to Covid-19, had been made by (a PML-N loyalist) Nasir Butt and she released it as it was a “national level matter”.
In the video, the late judge could be heard confessing that “there was no evidence” of corruption against Nawaz Sharif and that he was under pressure to convict the thrice prime minister of Pakistan.
Later, the reports emerged that there was another “personal and objectionable” video of the late judge on the basis of which he was being blackmailed by certain quarters to convict Mr Sharif.
The FIA had even claimed to have arrested a person named Tariq from Karachi on charges of making the video while he was trying to flee the country. Later, the judge reportedly refuted Maryam’s claims, and accused the Sharif family of threatening and offering him a bribe in exchange for acquitting the former PM.
The video scandal compelled the Supreme Court to intervene while admitting that the scandal had damaged the judiciary’s reputation. Judge Malik was suspended pending finalization of the inquiry. Judge Malik has since died of Covid-19, and it is highly unlikely after the facts of the matter will ever come to light.
The memories are still fresh in the minds of many senior journalists and politicians about a similar leaked telephonic conversation between Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Malik Abdul Qayyum the then head of the Ehtesab Commission Senator Saifur Rehman under the second term of Nawaz Sharif government in late 1990s.
The leaked telephonic conversation had not only reflected the pressures which the judges faced while hearing the high profile cases, it had also exposed the involvement of some elements at the institutional level as without their support, the audio tape could not have been leaked at that time when there were no smartphones in the country.
In the audio, released by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the judge was allegedly being told by the PML-N senator to complete the trial of the corruption cases against Asif Ali Zardari at the earliest and award him a stern punishment.
The PPP had brought the tape to the surface to highlight, what it called the PML-N government’s political victimization of its leaders, particularly Asif Ali Zardari, who had been in jail in connection with corruption cases.
More recently, just before the Senate elections earlier this year, a leaked video had gone viral on social and main media showing a number of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) distributing and receiving cash as bribe and for horse-trading during the 2018 Senate elections.
It was reported that the then KP Assembly speaker, Asad Qaiser, and former provincial chief minister Pervez Khattak, were also present when the money was allegedly being distributed among the lawmakers. Both Qaiser and Khattak denied the allegations.
Qaiser tweeted that neither the place shown in the “horse-trading” video was the Speaker House, Peshawar, nor he had to do anything with the matter. In the tweet, Qaiser said PM Imran Khan had informed him in 2018 about the buying and selling of votes and the entire party had decided to take action against the PTI MPAs, involved in the matter.
At the time of the surfacing of these series of video clips, a number of legal experts had suggested that criminal proceedings under the Elections Act 2017 could be initiated against those seen in the video and they could also face disqualification under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. However, once again, nothing happened.
Also in 2019, some leaked video clips showing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal allegedly involved in lewd behaviour with a woman, also went viral on social and main media. The woman in the video was later identified as Tayyaba, the wife of a person accused in a NAB case.
The opposition parties demanded a thorough probe into the matter after the NAB chairman came out with a clarification, claiming that the said woman was trying to blackmail him as her husband was in jail on charges of corruption.
In April, the National Assembly saw a rumpus following a noisy protest by the opposition when Minister of State for the Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan informed the house that the Prime Minister Office had “dropped” the complaint of the woman alleging harassment to her and her family by the NAB chairman. The opposition lodged a strong protest when Speaker Asad Qaiser refused to refer the matter to a house committee.
The opposition was agitated over the remarks of the minister who had not only opposed the demand for referring the matter to the committee but also alleged that the opposition members were raising the issue only to pressurise NAB which was hearing corruption cases against their leadership.
PPP MNA from Karachi Abdul Qadir Patel had put a written question asking about the status of the complaint that had been posted on the Pakistan Citizen Portal by Tayyaba against the NAB chairman.
“Chairman NAB is harassing me and my family”, reads the woman’s complaint. “He is making fake cases against me and my husband just because I didn’t make any relation with him. NAB is threatening me.
“I am a law student. How he disrespects a woman like this. He is a morally ill person. I have all videos and audio recordings against him, I am attaching some screenshots of videos”.
The PPP MNA had disclosed that the complaint had been filed by the woman on 10 May 2019 and the controversial audio and videos of the NAB chairman went viral on media on May 17. However, the issue died down on its own.
It seems that such videos and audios had been released to malign the politicians and to put pressure on the judges to seek favorable decisions. There is a need to hold a thorough investigations of all the cases to unmask those behind these scandals.
