Prime Minister Imran Khan was again in his container-day mode in Ghotki recently where he, in his usual refrain, vowed not to spare the ‘corrupt’ opposition come what may. In an indirect reference to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s statement that his party would protect the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the prime minister said, “Whenever the government launches (process of) accountability, the opposition starts propaganda of threat to democracy.” Those following Mr Khan’s politics since the 2000s would find nothing new in his latest statement. When he was struggling for power in the last two decades, Mr Khan used to promise to hold those days rulers accountable for their every crime; now, when he has been into power for around eight months, he has yet to find something new to offer the public on the accountability front. In fact, the prime minister was in Sindh to retaliate Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s well-attended Karachi-to-Larkana caravan with a mass contact campaign. He said PPP leaders’ corruption, and not democracy, was under threat.
Political rhetoric is often short-lived as it needs to be evolved over the period and translated into actions. The prime minister errs in pointing his fingers to the opposition alone; instead, he should go after the corrupt people regardless of their political affiliation. And to achieve his anti-corruption agenda, he needs to reforms watchdog institutions. White collar crime cannot be eradicated through mere talks or speeches; to unearth conmen’s tricks, the country needs a well-equipped, powerful watchdog body. So far the performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is concerned, the least said the better. Its every step from initiating an inquiry to file a reference and ensuing prosecution has been a sorry spectator sport since its inception. The acquittal of people in NAB reference from higher courts speaks volume. In the past, Mr Khan himself used to come hard on NAB’s poor, partial and pathetic play, but not anymore.
No doubt, corruption is a real problem in Pakistan, and Mr Khan has been mandated to execute his anti-corruption campaign. He needs to bring about radical changes in laws. To achieve the goals, he will need the support of opposition parties to pass laws from parliament. The treasury bench should not shy away from reaching the opposition to form impartial and powerful watchdog bodies. If opposition parties water down his efforts to make NAB and other institutions free from the influence of the government, Mr Khan can win public sympathy for his efforts to eradicate corruption and can expose the opposition.
But it seems the government’s agenda is only to get opposition. The prime minister’s Ghotki tour will escalate tensions in the days to come, and the war of words and actions, between the centre and the Sindh ruling party, will increase political and economic uncertainties. *