THE opposition may have reason, logic and moral ground. The prime minister has the right actors on his side. The show in parliament on Monday is not likely to yield any decisive outcome. After all the emphasis on Mr Nawaz Sharif offering his replies to a set of questions thrown at him in parliament, the battle will continue at varying levels of intensity on the streets, with little signs of a resolution anytime soon. There is absolutely no mechanism available that would satisfy the query raised by the opposition.

The reason in itself cannot clinch in favour of the supposed PTI-PPP-other parties’ combine right now. The signs do not quite indicate what they once used to. Observers may place all the emphasis and more on an army chief sternly telling a prime minster to sort out the Panama leaks. The so-called snub may provide all of us a reason to shout slogans aimed at stirring up the chief executive of the country and fighting for his honour. But that’s about all the fun that can be had from the exercise. There is stalemate after a reprimand.

There was a time when a prime minister in his first term was sufficiently embarrassed by the pressure exerted by his mediating army chief and president to leave midway in a huff, with a reference to victimisation. That easy solution to tough situations is no more available in this country, to the utter consternation of all those not favourably disposed towards long, complicated but mandatory routes a country must go through at various times in its history.

The absence of easy solutions like those available in the past can create quite a lot of frustration unless everyone takes part in this activity right now with the aim of exploring and setting up a system which can hold the rulers accountable. At present, that system, in fact, the very framework for that system, eludes Pakistan and the more sober among the country’s well-wishers will be happy with having established some principles for the accountability of those in power.

In order for it to survive, democracy must from time to time be allowed to throw up the corrupt for lynching by the people.

Others, such as Imran Khan, will continue, well within their rights, to pursue avenues leading to immediate or early relief. There is no doubt, however, that the governmental ploy of counter-accusations has taken some steam out of the PTI’s moral call. Having been exposed as maintaining offshore companies of their own, some PTI leaders have been heard offering the PML-N leaders challenges that are so obviously bereft of substance that they can actually prove counterproductive.

For instance, one PTI politician tells Mr Nawaz Sharif that he was prepared to sell his offshore companies and bring the money to Pakistan provided the prime minister’s family was prepared to do the same. There could not have been a bigger acknowledgement of ‘equality’ between the PTI and PML-N, which is something that the latter has been vying to establish ever since the initial leakage of the Panama Papers last month.

It suits the PML-N most if this offshore business is looked upon as a Pakistani affair and not a matter confined to a party. Towards this end, the party has been strongly, and at times unabashedly, aided by large and powerful sections of the media and some other major actors, such as the lawyers who have been quite insistent about the loopholes in the opposition’s terms of reference for the Panama probe under the Supreme Court.

These lawyers may have all the plausible causes to point out the weaknesses, but quite often the tone and the angle some of them adopt indicate the same kind of frustration that is these days associated with hard-core PML-N workers.

Quite routinely the legal advice is rounded off with what amounts to ridiculing the point of view of the opposition, especially the PTI. This, along with the bashing of the PTI — and to an extent the PPP — in the media, brings out the polarisation or a loud unqualified preference for the PML-N in the more learned sections.

What’s more serious, the partisan positioning of the media and lawyers leaves them in a less-than-ideal position to facilitate this country’s search for some kind of a workable efficient system. The system is urgently needed so that it can every now and then hold some in power accountable for their deeds and the secrecy which surrounds some of these actions. Without this system, let’s reiterate, democracy in this day and age will remain incomplete. In order for it to survive, democracy must from time to time be allowed to throw up the corrupt for lynching by the people.

The Panama Papers promised to start the search for a more transparent regime that could ensure that a steady supply of the corrupt is punished for public satisfaction. But among other things, the leaks have failed to help some of us overcome our dislike, or contempt, for the main character(s) behind the push.

The clear ‘good’ and ‘bad’ tags that we attach to those in power and to those in opposition are the reason why it has failed to become a people’s issue more than it being Imran Khan’s problem. It is quite revealing when the disclosures about the PTI politicians’ links with offshore companies do not lead to calls for the accountability of all but, instead, are used to justify the offshore secret business of the Sharif family and their associates.

The lack of general backing from the knowledgeable — the media, the lawyers and the NGO think tanks etc, of course the military for the time being — would suggest that Aitzaz Ahsan & co can hope little more than winning the declamation contest against the prime minister in parliament, however ingenious their questionnaire. It does not as yet have the appearance of a people’s cause and nobody actually knows what it will take to turn it into one.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2016