ISLAMABAD: Following the arrest of several opposition political leaders on charges of corruption, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is under considerable pressure to turn the torch of accountability onto itself.

Successive statements from PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Yousuf Raza Gilani, denouncing the PML-N for what they call political victimisation in recent days, seem to have caught the PML-N off-guard.

ANP leader Asfandyar Wali, as well as members of the embattled MQM, have all echoed concerns that the ruling party seems to be the only one immune in the latest spate of accountability.

In hard-hitting statements issued on consecutive days, all three parties have called for across-the-board accountability all over the country, including the federal government.

To counter this political resentment, sources close to the PML-N leadership say that the party has been discussing the possibility of activating both the FIA and NAB in Punjab.

“Top leaders have discussed this issue with the PM in closed-door meetings over the past few days,” a well-connected party official told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

Know more: Dr Asim Hussain reportedly detained by security personnel in Karachi

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar – who is also considered the PM’s “right-hand man” – confirmed that the “ongoing drive against corruption and corrupt practices can’t be selective and has to be [carried out] across-the-board, whether somebody belongs to the government or opposition parties”.

Senator Dar also rejected the impression that the federal government had to do anything with the selection of targets for law-enforcement agencies. “The PML-N government, from day one, has unequivocally espoused across-the-board accountability and offers itself for open scrutiny at any forum.”

However, arrest of Dr Asim Hussain last week and the issuance of warrants for former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Makhdoom Amin Fahim do not corroborate the claims. Subsequently, the PPP hit back, saying that the ruling party was not going after PML-N’s ministers in Punjab Rana Mashood and Rana Sanaullah, who were known to have accepted bribes or had been implicated in cases.

“[Self-accountability] is the only way to effectively counter the pressure being exercised by opposition parties,” said a PML-N office-bearer privy to such discussions. “Under the prevailing circumstances, if the anti-corruption watchdogs arrest a couple of politicians or somebody else connected to the PML-N, it will go a long way in allaying the impression that we are somehow immune to this much-hyped countrywide campaign against corruption.”

After Mr Zardari’s accusations, where he directly accused the PM of engaging in a witch-hunt and settling political vendetta, the PML-N leadership is hard-pressed to come up with an adequate response, the office-bearer said.

ANP leader Asfandyar Wali too accused the government on Tuesday of defaming those parties who had paid the most in the fight against terrorism, an obvious reference to his own ANP, the PPP and MQM.

The PML-N is no stranger to such tactics. A similar situation arose in June last year in Punjab, which prompted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to remove Rana Sanaullah and suspend his trusted personal secretary Dr Touqir Shah, though, both later returned to their positions.

Noted political analyst Dr Hassan Askari-Rizvi agreed with the perception that law-enforcement agencies were merely targeting three provinces and said this had to be rectified to avoid negative political fallout. “In Lahore, it is only Qasim Zia of the PPP who is being investigated, a fact which makes people wonder why only him, why not others as well,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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