Kazmi's arrest: The best part about the Hajj scandal

Kazmi’s arrest is a blessing - arrested on corruption charges without it being called political victimization.

Adnan Rasool March 17, 2011
Isn’t it just fantastic news that a federal minister is in jail? It’s almost as rare as seeing a double rainbow – a moment that makes you want to sit down and cry with happiness.

Pakistan's double rainbow moment came when Former Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi was taken into custody on charges of corruption during Hajj.

Now that he is on a physical remand with the FIA, it is important to look back at what happened:

Mystery number 1: What about Gilani's son?

Somehow, during the course of the investigation by the FIA, Gilani’s son was taken out of the equation. My question is this: if the investigation was honest and thorough, why wasn’t everyone interviewed and made part of the investigation? Why was the PM’s son let off the hook?

Mystery number 2: Why was our ambassador silent?

Here's another questions: why did the former Pakistan ambassador to Saudi Arabia just realise that he was offered 4 million riyals? Why did it take him so long to come forward with this information?

Mystery number 3: Why is the religious right silent?

Now that Kazmi is in custody, why isn’t the religious right up in arms over this?  Normally it is next to impossible to keep them quiet over anything - they all attacked Veena Malik for appearing on Bigg Boss and found justifications for Taseer's murder. But Kazmi stole money and put thousands of pilgrims through absolute horror during the holiest of journeys; why aren’t they protesting? What can be worse than this? They should be criticizing this man for making a quick buck at the expense of thousands of innocent people.

Why are they silent? Are they scared to open their mouths in case they look bad?

Despite these questions, I am counting Kazmi’s arrest as a huge blessing - a politician has been arrested on corruption charges without it being called political victimization. Perhaps, the PM needs to offer an apology to Mr Swati - after all, it seems he was right.
WRITTEN BY:
Adnan Rasool Currently the Deputy Executive Director Center for Enterprise, Trade and Development, Adnan is also a political analyst working mainly on electoral politics and political campaign management. He tweets at @adnanrasool
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (10)

parvez | 13 years ago | Reply Well written and I fully endorse J's comment. The whole lot of them stink.
Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply "Kazmi stole money and put thousands of pilgrims through absolute horror during the holiest of journeys" In case the author does not know, the arrest is to assist in the ongoing investigation, which in fact was never under any threat of being interrupted or disrupted in any way even when Kazmi sahab had not been arrested; he was already being questioned by the FIA freely before as well and had cooperated. Kazmi is under arrest but not convicted, none of the charges have been proven. The arrest does not reflect a ruling or court verdict. If you are going to write in a newspaper, avoid making judgmental statements that have no basis in fact.
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