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POLITICS produces strange bedfellows. So we should not be surprised to see the PPP and PTI sitting together in a grand anti-government alliance. Imran Khan has come a long way from his days of ‘puritanism’ to adopting the pragmatic approach he had so vehemently rejected in the past. He seems to have learnt some lessons from his solo flight in 2014. The old foes are now united in challenging a beleaguered prime minister. But can this new alignment succeed in bringing the Sharif government down?
With the Panama scandal still unfolding, one is not sure how far this grouping of disparate political forces can go. There may be a consensus on putting the prime minister in the dock, but there is still a division over the demand seeking his resignation prior to the investigations.
While the PTI has been consistent in its hardline stance on the prime minister’s resignation, Bilawal Bhutto, to the surprise of many in his own party, is also going for the jugular. This represents a complete shift in the PPP’s position of not destabilising the government. A more plausible reason is the pressure from the party ranks not to leave the field completely to the PTI and retain its position as the main opposition. One is not sure if the demand has the blessing of the father who may want the party to tread a more cautious path.
With the Panama scandal still unfolding, one is not sure how far this grouping of disparate political forces can go.
It seems that the Panama scandal is no more just about accountability and has become more of a political issue with every party trying to get maximum political mileage out of it. There is a no-holds-barred situation with regard to the government and the opposition, particularly with the PTI getting into an ugly fracas trying to prove the other side more corrupt. It can’t get any dirtier, though it is not unprecedented in Pakistan’s political culture.
That makes one wonder whether any political party is really interested in across-the-board accountability that has been reduced to a mere cliché. Every party has skeletons in its closet. The leaks have laid bare the widespread corruption and financial misappropriation involving the leaders of almost all major political parties including the PTI. Some more names are likely to be exposed when the next instalment of the papers is out sometime this month.
The PTI’s moral high ground on corruption suffered a huge blow when it was disclosed that some of its members, including Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan, and/or their families also had offshore accounts, providing the government a stick to hit the party with. The PTI’s defence sounded hollow given its tough position on Nawaz Sharif and his family.
There is strong pressure within the party to hold them accountable. But there is no indication of Imran Khan applying the same principle to his own party men as he has applied to others. Tareen, who is believed to be the most powerful person in the party after Imran Khan, says the offshore companies are owned by his children. But doesn’t Sharif have the same argument? The PTI leader has also been accused of using his influence in the past to get bank loans written off. These are serious charges and cannot be set aside on any pretext.
It has been after a long time that we have seen such a large anti-government alliance coming together, reminiscent of the 1990s. Though it calls for across-the-board accountability, the target is essentially the prime minister and his family. There is nothing wrong with the opposition’s demand that the prime minister present all the details about his and his family’s offshore accounts and foreign assets and the income tax he has paid since he entered politics some three decades ago. But that must not be an end in itself.
For sure, accountability must start at the top. But there is also a need for purging politics of corruption that presents the biggest threat to democracy and the long-term stability of the country. That cannot be done by any judicial commission. There is a need for strengthening the anti-corruption agencies and making them independent of the government for a fair and transparent investigation.
Accountability must not be treated as a one-time issue. Graft is a hydra-headed problem and has multiple causes. While the prime minister is in the eye of the storm, the other political parties in this opposition alliance are not unblemished. Two of the PPP’s former prime ministers and Mr Zardari himself have corruption cases pending against them. Have we forgotten the multi-million-dollar money-laundering case against the former president in the Swiss court that was withdrawn after the PPP’s return to power in 2008? Some PPP leaders have also been named in the Panama Papers; so let us wait for the release of the second instalment.
Yet in the Panama Papers scandal and the indignation it has aroused are hopeful signs. The demand for accountability starting from the top may be a first step to get to grips with one of the worst and most enduring problems confronting our democratic political system. Corruption has spread like cancer and has earned the country the dubious distinction of being one of the most corrupt nations in the world.
Many had assumed that democracy in the country would curb corruption. Instead, it has provided new opportunities for parties hungry for donations and politicians eager to reap the rewards of elected office. It is, however, not just the politicians who are to be blamed. The military leaders who have controlled the real power must also be held accountable.
One hopes the pledge by this alliance of parties does not prove to be just a line in the sand. The matter would not close even if the prime minister resigned. It is time to cleanse all the political stables. That cannot be done by outside intervention but by reforming the system from within. It may be a tough task but it is not impossible.
The writer is an author and journalist.
Twitter: @hidhussain
Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016
