A Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Pakistan When apartheid South Africa gave way to Black majority rule, there was a deep desire for justice for all the victims of the previous regime. Many had been tortured, imprisoned, beaten, or murdered by the South African security services for opposing apartheid. Now that the Whites had given up power to a democratic government, there was an understandable desire to make those who were responsible answer for their actions.
Nelson Mandela, the courageous and farsighted leader of the African National Congress, the main organization of Black opposition to apartheid, certainly had reason to call for justice. After being arrested in 1962, he spent over 25 years in a South African prison before being released. In the end, it was the willingness of Whites to trust Mandela that allowed apartheid to crumble peacefully.
But Mandela knew that an all-out attempt to accuse and prosecute those who had been the henchmen of apartheid would tear his newly healed nation apart. As democratic South Africa’s first President, he recognized that a vindictive approach, while satisfying the need for perfect justice on one level, would damage the country severely. The fragile trust between Blacks and Whites would fall apart. For Whites, aggressive prosecution, especially of political leaders on the one hand or simple police on the other, would confirm their worst fears of Black rule. The courts would lose their prestige with the populace, either by being too lenient or too biased against the defendants. A sense of a double standard, with ANC leaders who had engaged in terrorism getting off scot-free, would also poison the Whites against this policy. And on the other hand, those who had been victimized by the system but could not identify their specific tormentors would never get their day in court.
Nelson Mandela chose to put his weight behind the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as an alternative solution. This Commission did several interesting things. It allowed average citizens to come forward to a national forum and tell their tale of woe. It encouraged anyone who committed a “politically motivated” crime, either White or Black, to tell the Commission what they did. In exchange for publicly admitting and revealing what occurred during the Apartheid era, the individual would receive clemency for the crime he confessed to. The infamous 1976 death of activist Steve Biko was solved when his murderers dramatically told the story of what really happened to him in police custody. The Commission operated full time for over two years, and many high-ranking politicians and ANC leaders bared their crimes to the public. The effect was cleansing and healing. Far more truth came out than would ever have been made public if Mandela had tried to put people in jail. It was not perfect justice, but it was the best way to blow out the stench of apartheid.
Pakistan has also had a tortured history. Its entire political class is under a cloud of suspicion. The sense is that corruption, be it from the PPP, PML, or the military, has pervaded and damaged the nation. Both Bhutto and Sharif lost power over the corruption issue. Musharraf has been pursuing a policy of “Accountability”. Special courts have been pursuing corruption charges against a variety of political figures and their cronies. But to many Pakistanis, this approach is agonizingly slow, haphazard, and subject to bias with the sense that army corruption will never be looked at. Many of those with ill-gotten gain have found clever ways to hide their wealth and shield themselves from the understaffed prosecutors. White-collar crimes require sophisticated prosecutors who can piece together complex financial cheating.
Instead of this criminal approach, Pakistan should consider looking at how South Africa handled its bad history. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Pakistan would be the best way to deal with the wasted decade of the 1990’s. Like the South African version, amnesty would be offered to those who came forward. But in return, they would be expected to fully account and divulge their corrupt dealings. It would be gripping television, as the entire nation would finally see exactly what the political class has done.
Such an act of public confession would change the political culture. The sense of entitlement would be diminished on the part of politicians, and average citizens would be stimulated to be more involved in making democracy viable. In this way, a true culture of accountability could take hold.
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