Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
The extent of the heat over Panama Papers being felt by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is evident in how he has gone on a public meeting spree since last week after bowing to growing demands for a judicial inquiry to explain how his children amassed the wealth they did — at a particularly unhappy time for the family.
The gathering momentum against Sharifis unmistakable. Unlike the standalone protest campaign in 2014 over alleged poll rigging by the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), this time, other parties — notably, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which helped Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stave off a potential meltdown back then — are also joining forces.
An interesting example of the kitchen heat emerged last week, when during a talk show, Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, who, for more than a year has been the most vocal defender of the PM, lost his cool after provoking PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood with choice vocabulary that descended into an ungainly hand-wringing.
This unbecoming conduct normally does not make news because such fare is almost routine on Pakistan’s prime time talk show circuit, but for the fact that Rashid is known to be unflappable to the point of being dour. Mehmood also has a reputation for gentlemanly demeanour.
The fare is becoming a trite embarrassing for the Sharifs and there’s unlikely to be a respite in the coming days, weeks and months.
Despite writing to the chief justice of the Supreme Court to form a commission in line with popular demand, the terms of reference (ToRs) have become controversial since the scope appears to have been expanded — the opposition alleges, deliberately — to include all accused parties/ individuals from Pakistan’s inception to sidetrack the real purpose of inquiry into the assets of the PM’s children.
In an apparent ‘wag the dog’ avatar, a slew of Sharif’s cabinet members have been trying to take the focus away from Panama Papers to accuse opposition parliamentarians, particularly those from the PTI, about how they weigh on the probity scale. In this regard, the PML-N’s claim that Jahangir Tareen, a close aide of PTI chairman Imran Khan, had his bank loans written off in the past drew a swift rejoinder, with the State Bank clarifying on Tareen’s side. But he isn’t out of the woods yet even as he has served a legal notice on the accuser.
But perhaps, the most embarrassing gaffe followed when advertisements from the Prime Minister’s Office to the tune of Rs 12crores appeared in the print media last week claiming that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which authored the Panama papers, had apologised for “inadvertently” naming Sharif in the leaks.
The ICIJ denied the same day that it had either apologised or modified/corrected the record, claiming on the contrary, that it stood by its report!
Perhaps, it would have been more feasible for the PM to have declared his family’s assets before the nation once he claimed in a second address on national TV in half a month that there was no case against them.
In a remarkable contrast however, whilst Sharif was away for medical treatment for a heart ailment in the UK recently, a meeting chaired at the PM House by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is related to the PM, also saw Sharif’s daughter Maryam, who is named in the Panama Papers, advising on strategy!
The PM’s decision to summon a session of the federal cabinet, which is supposed to meet every week in the normal course, but was called for the first time in seven months, also did not escape public attention.
But while these actions may betray a certain panic in the treasury ranks, all is not lost for Sharif, who it is rumoured, still has a tacit understanding with the PPP leadership not to let the boat of democracy sink, if only to prevent any third party intervention.
This is likely to be the logical conclusion any which way.
But even before one conjectures on the probabilities and improbabilities, all eyes will be riveted to the response of the chief justice, who has just returned from an official trip to Turkey. Will he accept the PM’s advice and if he does, how far will he go, remains to be seen. In informal remarks, not long ago, he had baulked at the idea of going down this route every so often.
Almost everyone’s go-to mantra appears to be a judicial commission. While it sounds good on paper, there’s not much it can whittle down to in the absence of a forensic audit. Without the wizards trailing the footprint, there isn’t half a chance at solving the jigsaw puzzle. And then, too, if all the cards fall into place. The investigation will necessary entail access across different sources/channels for evidence. How reachable and forthcoming these will be, if at all, is open to question.
• The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad.
