The verdict is in. The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld its earlier ruling on the Jahangir Tareen case. Thus the PTI leader remains disqualified from holding public office for life over failure to declare all assets.
The question of an offshore company and Rs500 million in concealed wealth lie at the heart of the matter. All of which represents a moral set-back for the ruling party. Not least because the joint opposition will likely jump on the SC order as proof of PTI not practising what it preaches on the corruption front. After all, Tareen was reportedly the ‘mastermind’ of Imran Khan’s aggressive pursuit through the courts of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on identical charges resulting in Panamagate.
Tareen is a seasoned politician; having been elected to Parliament thrice. In fact, he has long acted as the PTI chief’s right-hand man. Not to mention generous benefactor. In short, he is someone who should have known better. And even though his permanent removal from the political scene has come right at the start of the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tenure — the timing could not have been worse. For he is still facing charges of poll-rigging; levelled by his opponents. And then there is the question of having inducted his close aide Zulfikar Bukhari into the cabinet.
This has proved a controversial move. Especially considering that the latter holds dual Pakistani and British nationality. Yet this has not stopped him from being appointed special assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development; with the status of minister of State. This is not to mention whisperings of blatant nepotism. Though Khan has long opposed the barring of dual nationals entering politics here in Pakistan. Even as he previously issued his own party members an ultimatum: either dump foreign passports or quit the party.
The PTI supremo faces an increasingly long charge-sheet of political
U-turns. Including pledges of not jaunting off on foreign trips for the first three months of government. Or of travelling on official state business by commercial airlines. Not forgetting the ban on ministers also travelling overseas in their official capacity. That being said, there is one way for Khan to possibly bounce back from accusations of violating his own mandate as well as cabinet decisions. And the denouncing and distancing of the party from Jahangir Tareen holds the key. This will not only silence those who will gleefully conclude that that the PTI has hoisted itself with its own petard. It will also serve to polish the increasingly tarnished image of a Naya Pakistan that does not play favourites; where the rule of law applies to all. If nothing else, the turning away of Tareen from the fold will act as a gesture of intent moving forward.
The question remains as to whether this is a sacrifice that PM Khan is willing to make. *
Published in Daily Times, September 29th 2018.