Sui Incident: A PR Disaster

Ice hockey and soccer are Sweden’s two most popular sports and their eminent players are treated as super stars, mega celebrities.

On Thursday, February 10, three top Swedish NHL players, Andreas Lilja of the Nashville Predators, Kristian Huselius of the Florida Panthers, the top scorer in the Swedish Elite League with Linkoping during the NHL lockout, and teammate Henrik Tallinder of the Buffalo Sabres were picked up by police at their hotel only hours before Sweden’s national Tre Kronor ice hockey team were to play against the Czech Republic in Stockholm, the last event on the European Hockey Tour, after a 21-year-old woman accused them of rape.

The three players admitted to having "consensual" sexual relations with the woman in their hotel room after meeting her in a bar early Wednesday, but have denied committing any crime or molesting her sexually. Investigators and prosecutors had decided not to pursue the case any further as they didn’t have enough evidence to charge the players.

Within 48 hours, on Saturday, February 12, these three players were nonetheless kicked off Sweden’s national ice hockey team. Later on, two of the players were also fired from their Swedish Elite League club. While announcing the decision, Swedish Ice Hockey Association chairman, Christer Englund said, "By their actions, these players have damaged Swedish hockey, other players, officials and this girl".

"We decided today to terminate their contract as of today," Christer Maard, the chairman of the local Linkoping ice hockey team, told AFP, referring to two of the club’s players, Kristian Huselius and Henrik Tallinder. Maard added that the club’s decision had nothing to do with whether the players’ actions had been illegal or not. "We demand that our players have a certain level of judgement, and these players have shown an extraordinary lack of good judgement," he said. "From a moral point of view, we think what they did was wrong," club spokesman Biffen Karlsson agreed.

Skirting legal intricacies and complex psycho-social analysis, it would be pertinent to highlight certain details. No one broke into the lodgings of the woman concerned and absolutely no use of violence has been reported. Although drunk, she still followed the players to their hotel room with her own wish and will. Since January 10, while Huselius, Tallinder and Lilja have been subject of everyone’s talk and ire the identity of the victim is a tightly kept secret. The trio did detain by the police and were set free only after the prosecutor deemed it impossible to proceed further. The prosecutor then had to justify his decision publicly with solid lego-judicial arguments. In short, no attempt was made from any side that can be perceived, even remotely, as a cover-up.

"Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman" wrote United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis in 1933. How true!

Back to Pakistan and as there were any paucity of scars on our collective conscience and blots on our national character we have given one more in the shape of the tragic incident of Sui. I really don’t know what to believe? Can we blindly trust the narration of Mr. Akbar Bugti? We shouldn’t. Seasoned politicians, particularly among feudal sardars are very much capable of merchandising the miseries and agonies of people, distorting facts and twisting the truth.

Can we believe the accused captain going around giving TV interviews? We must not. A rapist has yet to born who would ever confess his crime willingly. Still, in the absence of several vital details it would be highly imprudent and unethical on my part to pronounce verdicts. Therefore, I will try to confine this write-up primarily to PR and administrative aspects.

The explanations given by the military and stories being planted by the spin doctors in different attires are only adding insult to injury. The overdosing of half-baked truths, chronic abuse of the mantra “supreme national interest”, stretching the meanings of continuity, pragmatism, patriotism etc., into absurdum, have already rendered most of the Pakistanis inoculated to the non-stop, nonsensical babble of official channels - regardless of their affiliations. The credibility, rather a total lack of it, is today almost equal for politicians as well as generals.

There is only one person – the victim, who is in position to exonerate or identify the real culprit(s). She, for some incomprehensible reasons is being kept out of sight. A married, well-educated woman in Pakistan concocting a rape drama, as DG ISPR has disgustingly insinuated, is next to impossible. DG ISPR Maj. General Shaukat Sultan said on the BBC while discussing Balochistan with columnist Ayaz Amir that to him the whole episode seemed to be stage-managed.

Correcting a flagrant wrong, openly and transparently, is the least we as a nation justify to demand. No doubt, many people seem to be exploiting this case for nefarious purposes and to settle scores, not out of any concern for justice. However, that does not translate into a mitigating factor by default, let alone metaphorical or real alibi for the rapists. And who bears the responsibility if this incident is being grossly politicized?

Likewise, it is sickening to observe that some quarters have been trying to play down the severity of the incident by referring and comparing it to other rape cases. In their weird logic, for instance, alleged rapes by the sons of Akbar Bugti make the doctor’s case somehow less horrendous. On the contrary, it only shows that feudal lords are as disgusting as supposedly civilized and well-groomed military officers.

If memory serves me right, it was in early 90s, a group of junior army officers stationed at Risalpur manhandled a local bus conductor and driver in Nowshera. Within a couple of days, the then army chief, General Asif Nawaz was out in the media personally apologizing to the public and the victims for the misbehaviour of army officers and promising the sternest possible punishment to the culprits. Later on, General Asif Nawaz was equally swift and steadfast when a Major murdered Sindhi peasants. A message of no-nonsense was duly served to the officers while clearly demonstrating to the general public that the army stands for the highest standards of justice and morality. That’s the way graceful guardians of the motherland sort out rotten eggs among them.

Abu Ghraib prison scandal, catapulted the entire top U.S. civil and military command into action on war footing. Everyone, from Mr. Collin Powel to Mr. Rumsfeld to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers to the top commanding brass in Iraq, was at once out endeavouring to refute that abusing [enemy] detainees was U.S. official policy. President Bush, in person, gave interviews to Arab TV channels, strived to calm down the outrage, promised justice and illuminated the values the U.S. and its military hypothetically stand for. How honest they were and have been since then, that’s another story.

The U.N.’s top refugee advocate resigned Sunday, February 20, amid a festering controversy over allegations that he sexually harassed several female employees at the U.N. refugee agency. Ruud Lubbers, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees, who served as the Netherlands’ longest governing prime minister from 1982 to 1994, proclaimed his innocence in a letter of resignation, saying that an internal U.N. investigation failed to "prove that sexual harassment has taken place." Observe, in a sense, mere accusations of unsubstantiated sexual harassment – not rape - were enough to ruin his long career.

What have the incumbent army chief, the president, the chairman NSC of Pakistan has done so far in Pakistan? Making matters worse, all of the countless generals we have, without exception, have kept themselves aloof apart from despatching few thousand more troops to sort the agitating tribesmen out. This is what tears my heart apart: the lousy, heartless inaction of the military authorities, the lack of concern - taking no notice at all, when it should be enough to declare emergency at least at the cantonments in Balochistan. I shudder to imagine the long-term impact of this attitude for the standing of the military in the society and national unity.

As a bare minimum Mr. Musharraf should have come on the national TV in his uniform and said something like: “Being father of a daughter myself, I can understand, very well, the unbearable agony the victim and his family must be going through. At the moment, I am not in position to have an opinion about the culpability of my officer. I can neither guarantee the innocence of the accused nor am I aware of the grade of his involvement. The crime is however so serious that there is absolutely no room for any leniency. We have taken the person in question in custody. He will remain there until and unless we can either prove him guilty or absolve him of any wrongdoing beyond every reasonable doubt. We will leave no stone unturned to deliver justice – no matter who the perpetrators are. Trust me - I will not let you down. ”

No, no, nothing of the sort, either from the Army House or the Presidency. Gentleman residing over there is perhaps too busy making and breaking political alliances. ‘Unity of command’ and uniform seemingly failed to incite ‘patriotism’ or stimulate ‘conscience’ when it needs. Actually, what really perturbs me is my deep-held belief that Mr. Musharraf as an individual is a benevolent and compassionate guy. He did take proper and personal notice of the gory incident in Meerwala. This time around, his indifference, his silence is perplexing.

In civilized parts of the world, “innocent until proven guilty” is the bearing pillar of the justice system and there this golden principle is implemented across the board sans any discrimination. For a lowly captain the Army is demanding and providing the rights and privileges not even conferred on Slobodan Milosevic by the world’s most expensive court, the U.N. tribunal at The Hague. Observe the difference. Milosevic has been languishing in the jail for last several years, yes, before proven guilty.

On the one hand, in Pakistan, a corps commander, a serving three-star general was sacked for ill-discipline and disloyalty at a moment’s notice in not so distant past, because he had allegedly met the prime minister without having clearance from the chief or purportedly “leaking information to the politicians”. Fair enough. There must not be any compromise on the discipline of the fighting force.

Then we have six army officers who are being held incommunicado for more than a year and have yet to be produced before a court. The families of these officers are running pillar to post to know their whereabouts only to be rebuffed by the military authorities. Have they proven guilty? Ironically, they have yet to be officially arraigned in any case.

On the other hand, merely detaining of an alleged rapist – very possible he is innocent - takes over a month while country is literally on fire. The contrasts are painfully evident. This rape incident may have nothing to do with the chain of violent actions committed since January 2, causing huge loss of human life and billions of rupees in monetary terms, but will be remembered by the history as a triggering point for the ensuing civil war. Irrespective of the final outcome of the ongoing investigations army is doomed to be incriminated either for shielding rapists or condoning rape. A loss-loss situation now could easily be averted at the outset through a show of little empathy and prudent handling.

Obviously, it all depends on the institutional values, organisational gist, and the prevailing code of conduct. That’s the reason that seldom if ever military officers break the military chain of command but readily trample the law of the country as they deem fit and feel like. Simple: institutional gaffes cost them dearly whereas misdemeanours in civil, crimes against civilians or constitutional violations are free of cost. Then why shouldn’t they test the limits? The institutional acceptance of these misdeeds, which are morally, legally, and ethically wrong in turn perpetuates the prevalence of such practices.

For deplorable cases like gang-rape, people demand, very justifiably tangible results. Politics, they say, is all about perception. It is thus not a surprise that people in power in civilized parts of the world pay a great deal of attention to the media. The whole episode has become a PR disaster for the military. Not only everything that could be done wrong was done, it was done in the most pathetic mode imaginable.

Our external adversaries, will [Insh - Allah] never be able to wreak even a fraction of the damage what our own incompetent, indifferent and callous top brass has succeeded in inflicting on Pakistan and Pak Army. But do we really need external enemies to annihilate us? It will take decades, if not more, to repair the damage. Pretty doubtful, the quadruple role of judge, jury, prosecutor and investigator, military is playing in this case would help defusing the tension or enhance the credibility rate of the military.

Constitutional coups, overt and covert manipulation of the political process used to be more or less academic discussion. True, hitherto most of the ordinary mortals, so-called silent majority have not been very concerned with constitutional niceties. This case seems to have changed it altogether. We are about to watch the tragedy unfold.

Not a nice omen for the “popularity graph” of a ruling party if even those with no interest or involvement in political affairs start noticing the excess of the governing lot, questioning the integrity of its functionaries and doubting its intentions. Do I need to remind that in the absence of public trust and confidence, institutions cannot hold any legitimate authority or respect?

At the same time, regardless of the veracity of the allegations against the captain, there is an urgent need to venture beyond plain condemnations and standard demands for the justice. While keep on asking for the impartial, transparent and indiscriminate judicial process, we should also look behind the scene and under the surface. Instead of mere finger-pointing or apportioning blame, much more important would be to ponder why military officers can be rightly or wrongly blamed for gang-rape today and worst of all, why majority of people tend to believe it instantly.

Nowadays, I often find myself thinking about another dark episode and co-realating with the current one.

Former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui was held in captivity for five hours by an army Captain during the October 12 takeover by Gen. Pervez Musharraff. Disclosing this at a seminar, Asma Jehangir of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said, “Yes I am on record when I say that the Chief Justice of Pakistan was illegally detained for five hours,” quoting her conversation with the former Chief Justice on October 12 when he had refused to take the oath of office under the ’Provisional Constitutional Order’ (PCO). This was followed by the removal of five judges of the Supreme Court who declined to be inducted under the oath of the PCO. [Ref. 1]

This is the respect of the serving Chief Justice of Pakistan, the ultimate arbiter of the law in the country, the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the eyes of those who are constitutionally, morally, professionally and ethically duty bound to defend the very institutions they so readily crush under their boots every now and then. If physical detention of the CJ sounds incredible, try to contemplate about the subsequent question: are PCOs not tantamount to collective abduction of the superior judiciary, by any standard. Officers operating in this institutional milieu can go to any length - sometimes on the orders of their chiefs, sometimes responding to their own lust.

In a country where Supreme Court judges and Parliaments are retired prematurely and forcibly, but Army Chiefs overstay long after they are due to retire - captains, majors, colonels too start getting illusions about their infallibility and power. Absence of even pretence of law is therefore not surprising. When there is no penalty for crimes, crimes proliferate. Herein lies the crux. The top strata of the military in Pakistan apparently consider themselves beyond the ambit of the law of the country. The mentality, the venom has surely started trickling down the ranks.

I am pretty sure that inability to contain this evil will soon deprive the army even the last very traces of goodwill it has among masses. If unchecked, simply a matter of time that this curse will paralyse the entire institution as all other civilian departments of the country – that would be a great tragedy. Crime is contagious. If the top tier becomes habitual law breaker, juniors will inevitably follow after.

Without exaggerating one can assert that army officers, in increasing numbers, have already started outperforming civil bureaucracy in malpractices, highhandedness and in every kind of corruption. Many of them consider themselves rulers instead of defenders and behave thereafter. More lamentable is seemingly tacit endorsement of this attitude by the high command.

Don’t you think that people keep a vigilant eye on military officials nowadays and every illicit deviation by them costs the force its reputation? The public perception about honesty of the rulers is dictated by such observations. The tall claims of in-built accountability mechanism of the military seem ridiculous after observing all this.

A society can never flourish where rules and laws are being implemented selectively. A leniency to check and condemn such activities will create monsters degrading the organisation as a whole. The process of moral degeneration must be halted urgently and at every cost. It would be a service to the army to vigorously follow every delinquency report, let alone cases of rape and gang-rapes. There must be zero-tolerance for the military officers.

The ability of individual officers to act with near impunity as regularly reported by the print media is frightening. Here they are, army officers to demonstrate and impress the civilians with professional integrity and they are among them who ought to be investigated and locked up. The misconduct of these black sheep is causing deep shadows on the entire force. I am sorry to conclude that it is becoming clear with every passing day that the process used to recruit and train and/or command n control structure to monitor their behaviour is not adequately good.

I promise, the litany of criticism is by no means intended to denigrate the hardworking honest officers – earnestly performing their duties and defending the motherland at the peril of their life. In fact, the shortcomings of the unscrupulous individuals do a disservice to the army as an institution and the values our army (should) uphold.

Frankly speaking there is no room for error when you are at the helm of the affairs. Army must learn from its mistakes of past, because missteps now have the potential for grave consequences. I am unable to anticipate a bigger loss for a fighting force then the perception of a common man about its uprightness. The moment he starts perceiving the army equally corrupt and greedy as other organs of the state – that would be disastrous.

Any government, any institution that commits, condones, promotes or fosters rape is a malignant force in the world. And those who refuse to raise their voices against something as clearly evil as rape are enablers, if not collaborators. The lack of moral courage that prevents our leaders from speaking out against all this is deeply disturbing.

“When they disregarded the warnings that had been given them, We rescued those who forbade Evil; but We visited the wrong-doers with a grievous punishment because they were given to transgression”. Sura Al-A’raf 7:165.

May Allah Almighty Bless Pakistan (Amen)

[Ref. 1]
In case, one has doubts about the credibility of Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui & Asma Jehangir, the following reference would be helpful.

IV. CONSOLIDATION OF MILITARY RULE
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/pakistan/pakio09-03.htm

On the evening of January 25, the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, was summoned to Musharraf’s offices. Musharraf asked Siddiqui to take an oath of loyalty under the newly promulgated PCO, but Siddiqui refused, saying that it was impossible for him take a fresh oath because he had already been sworn in.18 Later that night, Interior Minister, retired General Moin-ud-Din Haider, accompanied by two active-duty generals, went to Siddiqui’s residence and asked him to reconsider his decision, but Siddiqui again declined.19 At 6:00 a.m. on January 26, an army colonel arrived at Siddiqui’s residence and told him that he should not go to the Supreme Court that day.20 The area around his house was subsequently cordoned off and no one was allowed to enter or leave his residence. Along with Chief Justice Siddiqui, five other judges of the Supreme Court were forced to resign when they refused to take the oath, as were nine provincial High Court judges.21 Interior Minister Haider told Human Rights Watch that four of the provincial judges were not invited to take the oath "as a means of getting corrupt judges to leave."22