Iqbal Hadi Zaidi
ON one hand it is really very much amusing, exciting and thrilling to even think of the caption while, on the other hand, it is truly fainting and mind boggling as well to pen on the subject for the very simple and cogent reason that each and every item one can possibly think of, be it small or big, in east to west, or south to north, on the face of earth or even under the sea, be alive or dead, has its own value, both intrinsic and face, but this has nothing to do with a human male or a human female to carry a price tag for himself or herself but yet one way or the other the trifling situation has arisen in my beloved Pakistan which initially I wanted to avoid for so many days but ever since eventually it has reached to such a stage where figures themselves, not human being, are competing and therefore I simply cannot be silent anymore.
No personal interest at all whatsoever, so far as I am concerned, simply because on one hand I am absolutely stranger to Cynthia D Ritchie, am American blogger whom neither I have met nor have even communicated with her so I cannot be bracketed with her in any case while and on the other hand I am equally unknown to Pakistan Peoples Party leaders as well whom Cynthia has mentioned in her complaint, therefore, I cannot be construed titling towards the most respected personalities of Pakistan as well to be honest. What she has said, when she has said, where she has said and why she has said so is all available right over here on net accessible to each and every one and, therefore, anyone interested to track the same it time-wise and date-wise can very well gather the information accordingly which again does not interest me at all. During my law studies at Punjab University Law College, Lahore 1966-69, I very much doubt, unless I have completely forgotten which is not possible either, that I have read in some law books, or for that matter, any of my most learned law professors have taught me as to how a human being can be priced or in other words what could be the parameters to evaluate a person and arrive at a figure saying Mr A or Miss B or even Mrs C is worth so much in US $ or even in Pak Rupees?
Coming back to Cynthia, she just in one breath, with no pause in between, through her tweets and statements hasmentioned none but the names of four very senior members of PPP (a) Asif Ali Zardari, former President of Pakistan and now Member of National Assembly (b) Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister (c) Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani former Prime Minister (d) Rahman Malik former Interior Minister and now Senator and finally (e) Khawaj Shahabuddin, former Minister. Needless to mention, I am not at all interested to repeat and refer as to whatever Cynthia has said about them simply because it does not concern me to be honest. Three notices have been issued by three persons and all the three have demanded that the other party tenders a public apology for whatever has been said against the individual and also pay so much million rupees as compensation for insulting him or her in public.
Most striking feature which ignited me to comment is that in all the notices two things are common namely in each and every notice millions have been demanded and 14 days’ notice is served. In exceptional cases billions have been asked but very rare (PTI lodged a claim of 10 billion against MQM and then MQM asked Imran to pay 5 billion, Zulfi Bukhari asked Khawaja Asif to pay him 1 billion) otherwise none has asked the other party to pay him or her compensation amount in billions but limited to millions only, of course varying in figures but still within millions. All felt insulted asking for thousands. My very naïve question is which law, if any, says that 14 days’ notice is to be given which cannot be 13 days or 15 days for that matter. Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani former Prime Minister categorically rejects the accusation that he has mishandled Cynthia when she met him while he was Prime Minister of Pakistan. Gilani has served a notice to Cynthia to pay him 10 million rupees for damaging his reputation and he does not want to pocket the money and instead this amount is to be paid to Edhi Foundation so that the money is spent on the needy people. I am absolutely clueless as to how did he arrive at 10 million figure which I am sure could be much more but he did not increase the amount.
Cynthia has lodged a counter claim on Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani asserting that she has been mishandled and therefore she is asking him to pay her 12 million rupees as compensation but what perplexes me again how she arrived at this amount which is higher than what our former minister has asked for. Rahman Malik has been accused by Cynthia that he has raped her while he was Interior Minister which he has not only outrightly disowned but in retribution has demanded Cynthia to pay compensation amount to 500 million for damaging his reputation and again I failed to understand how and why this figure could be increased than limiting to 500 million. Hurriedly, out of very long list, I will touch just a few past examples as well but not going to the details as to why and when it happened alike except to prove that in my beloved Pakistan such like many defamation cases have been lodged and again very much surprisingly even after laps of many long months, neither anyone asked for billions or thousands nor anyone has paid the amount, I am sorry to have missed, if anyone has paid the money asked against him or her. Tafazzul Rizvi, PCB asked Shoaib Akhtar to pay 100 million. Imran Khan lodged a claim of 61 million against Shabaz Sharif. Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Ch Iftikhar Hussain asked Imran Khan, not PM then, to pay him Rs 20 million. I very happily end saying that though Pakistan per capita income is US $5,539=Pak Rs246,873 yet our compensation claims are much higher than per capita income.
—The writer is a former diplomat, based in Kuwait and occasionally contributes on National Press.
