Asad Munir vindicated after death

KARACHI: Retired Brigadier Asad Munir, who committed suicide after being mercilessly persecuted by NAB, was finally acquitted of the allegations, three years after his death, under the Ehtesab Ordinance 2021.

The late army officer took his life on March 16, 2019, and left a letter pleading his innocence. Pleading the defence case for his client Hussain, Advocate Imran Shafiq said Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Azam Khan, while acquitting his client and those other accused, ruled the case as not fit for trial.

Advocate Shafiq said the CDA and other departments had thoroughly investigated the case and could not find any shred of evidence to prove that the deceased, Asad Munir, or any other accused Brig (retd) Nusratullah, Ghulam Sarwar Sidhu and Mohammad had committed any wrongdoing. 

Advocate Imran Shafiq had previously served as NAB prosecutor but quit the anti-graft organisation in 2019. 

The case came to the limelight when in 2018, NAB arrested CDA’s ex Member Planning Brig (retd) Nusratullah, ex-Director Ghulam Sarwar Sidhu and contractor Mohammad Hussain. 

They were accused of involvement in alleged corruption in allotting over 400 acres of land for shuttle service in the Diplomatic Enclave, Islamabad, to its contractor Mohammad Hussain. The shuttle service was planned as a security feature in the Diplomatic Enclave for those required to visit different embassies to acquire visas. 

Even then, the CDA had rejected the allegation and stated it follow all rules and procedures in allotment of the land. 

The NAB Rawalpindi was holding a parallel investigation with ex-CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari and ex-Member Planning Brig (retd) Asad Munir. Munir would be subjected to humiliating behaviour of the anti-graft organization who kept him handcuffed. Munir was a humble soul, who served in the Pakistan Army at different command and staff appointments besides heading ISI’s KPK sector.

Though he knew Justice Athar Minallah, who is the CJ of Islamabad High Court, as well as Supreme Court Justice Yahya Afridi, yet he never drew upon his connections during NAB’s interrogation. 

Subsequently, his name was put on ECL. 

Deeply disturbed and dejected by the needless humiliation for a crime he had not committed, he even then did not raise the issue with anyone, including his brother Col (retd) Khalid Munir. His misery and despair multiplied whenever he was repeatedly paraded handcuffed before the media, where once again he would be subjected to intense media reprimand and he would only say the situation was not acceptable to him.

Desperate with the hopeless situation, while pleading his innocence, in a letter to CJP Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on March 14, 2019, he wrote that he was being driven to take his own life. He only asked the CJP to see that no one else is meted out the humiliation that he was made to undergo. Driven by despair and anger at being gravely insulted, the very next morning, he hung himself.

Former CJP Asif Saeed Khosa asked NAB instead to submit a report. But to this day, the grief-stricken family who suffered from the torment does not know if the anti-graft organization even submitted any report.

Bereft with grief, his brother Col (retd) Khalid Munir couldn’t find words to phrase his response to the justice that was denied to his brother, or if it was delivered too late... But he did ask why his brother was defamed and maligned, and why Munir’s family had to suffer the agony and torment of miscarriage of justice. The saga doesn't end here, but continues for many others similarly charged for no crime of their own.