Come clean or keep quiet.

Byline: Dr Farid A Malik

Where white collar crime is involved, the much-revered common law seems helpless. Onus of proof is on the accuser while the accused has several remedies including bail. Conviction can take decades as multiple remedies of appeal are available. Over the years, delay mechanisms have been developed to perfection. During the martial law years, the superior judiciary provided relief to genuine political activists and dissidents, but now the thugs and ruffians are taking advantage of this latitude.

My late father, the worker of the Pakistan Movement and a soldier of Quaid, was a habitual litigant as he believed in a black and white world where there was no room for grey areas. Compromise on principles was unknown to him. The first item on his list of do-nots was, 'no compromises, do not fear confrontation'. He always fought back with his muscles, pen or law.

For a straight-edged man in a crooked environment, life was tough for him but he did not give up till his last breath. Finally, his heart stopped beating in September 1991. I had to take over from where he left off. There were about twenty court cases that I inherited, which ranged from property matters to bureaucratic abuses. In every case, there were requests for early hearing; he sought expeditious justice that was denied to him. It was evident that only the guilty seek delays as they cannot come clean, only the righteous desire quick decisions.

For the first time, the corrupt, affluent and rich who have enjoyed power for the last three to four decades are now facing the courts. Delay is their only defense as they cannot come clean. The astronomical rise in their assets and overflowing bank accounts are indefensible. The courts continue to follow due process while the situation on ground demands extraordinary efforts to curtail delays. While some believe that, 'justice delayed is justice denied', in the land of the pure, the accused who are not righteous follow a different rule; 'justice rushed is justice crushed'. Their only weapon of defense being delays which is exercised through a team of well-connected, expensive lawyers. When the process is sped up for the purpose of expeditious resolution, they call it foul play. Getting bails and pretending to be innocent is part of their delaying tactics.

The resources of the country have been robbed with impunity. Civilian institutions have become non-functional; as such their capacity to investigate and prosecute has been...