Daily Times

X-ray was a big invention. It could pass through opaque materials and bring to light the invisible. Leaks have become the political x-ray in this tech-savvy world. Hacking is the unauthorised access to data that is hidden under secret codes. The fact that they are secret is the fascination; the fact that they are hidden is the attraction; and the fact that they are mysterious is the addiction. While WikiLeaks started it, leaks have now become a phenomenon that is turning into a fashion. There is nothing private about public lives, and there is a secret life behind the private life. There is nothing more fascinating than a sordid discovery, a secret revealed, a controversy initiated, and a story untold. That is why the x-ray factor is saleable stuff not only in fiction but also even more in reality.

Leaks Season One was the ‘Hillary Leaks’. On March 16, 2016, WikiLeaks launched a searchable archive for 30,322 emails and email attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was the US secretary of state. The 50,547 pages of documents span from June 30, 2010 to August 12, 2014. These emails show some shocking policy about-turns made in speeches delivered in Qatar and to big Wall Street companies, which were main sponsors to her personal and political fund-raising. These private emails present hard evidence of her two-faced persona that Donald Trump has successfully pitted to pitch himself as a candidate who is not a hypocrite.

Leaks Season Two were the ‘Panama Leaks’ on April 3, 2016. These were the biggest leaks on tax evasion and black money in the world. There was a sea of leaks: 11.5 million documents of over 200,000 companies that were involved in conducting transactions through offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens. In that list were also 400 Pakistani companies. The Panama leaks included names of 12 heads of states including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who had procured flats in his children’s name in London worth billions. The leaks have resulted in the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister and a global transformation in laws and accountability. In Pakistan, the leaks have been rejected by the government as a controversy hyped by the opposition, or an international conspiracy to derail democracy. But the leaks continue to remain acidic.

Leaks Season Two Part Two were the ‘Dubai Leaks’, revealed in May 2016. With properties worth one billion dollars in Dubai, 2,583 Pakistanis were named in the leaks; 269 of them are women. Dubai property boom had become a big attraction for a country like Pakistan with lax laws against money laundering and asset declaration; it is a haven to stow money away and invest in. Many politicians in Pakistan have ‘escape’ palaces in Dubai and Jeddah. Asif Ali Zardari and Pervez Musharraf, both citing ‘medical reasons’, have found their Dubai sojourns to be great rehab and convalescence centers. The fact that the model, Ayyan Ali, was caught with half a million dollars of ‘pocket money’ while boarding a flight to Dubai was just a coincidence. After all, it was her 81st trip in two years, and if she was innocent 80 times why was she ‘harassed’ the 81st time?

Leaks Season Three were the ‘Bahamas Leaks’ in September 2016. The cache of documents from the island nation’s corporate registry provided names of directors and owners of more than 175,000 Bahamian companies, trusts and foundations registered between 1990 and early 2016. Over 150 Pakistanis have been identified as directors of 70 companies from the total 175,000 companies incorporated in the Bahamas between 1959 and 2016. Money in Bahamas did not create much uproar as the leaks before were still leaking, and Bahamas being a super-rich luxury holiday resort would in any case need big money.

Leaks Season Four may well be the year’s record-smasher. Donald Trump who had almost managed a neck-to-neck run with Hillary Clinton became the victim of a leaked audio-tape of a lewd conversation he had in 2005 about how he indulged in forced advances on women. The audio leak inspired many TV leaks where women confessed to being assaulted by Trump on the plane, in the office and on a tour of his house. The leak has had a devastating impact on Trump’s chances of winning the election as his popularity graph nosedives right before the election.

Similarly, Leaks Season Four Part Two are the ‘Cyril Almeida Leaks’. The high drama of the news report on a secret meeting between the National Security team and government is now termed a leak that covers another leak. The report was about how the government was blaming the military for interfering in their attempt to catch terrorist organisations. This report caused national and international furore. The government put Almeida, who reported this leak, on the Exit Control List, and later removed his name from the list. Dawn sticks to its version of the report without revealing its sources, and the enquiry into this leakage has become a painful drag. The latest leak about this leak of who made the other leaks is that Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar has threatened to resign if the enquiry is not held.

People about whom these leaks are leaked, whether proven or unproven, suffer the adversity of becoming disputable and questionable. Both Clinton and Trump are fighting the aftermath of the leaks. Nawaz Sharif and company, still adamant about their innocence, have a lot of mud to clear. However, the leakers of these leaks do gain a heroic state. Julian Assange and John Snowden have shot to fame, with a whole array of of social media and civil society activists protecting them. Cyril Almeida has become a Twitter trend, Facebook status and electronic media breaking news. Such is the power of leakers that they become immune to personal digressions, legal law-bending and ethical conformance. Assange has had Trump-like sexist allegations against him by women blaming him for sexual assault, but no government and no institution dare touch him due to his exposé power.

For Pakistan, the local leaks are still an X-file. We know the name of the person who reported them but we do not know the name of the people who leaked them to the publication. That is what requires further leaks of whodunit. That story needs to be unearthed as the leak is a serious national security breach and is harming the government, the army and the image of Pakistan globally. The person who will reveal the real leaker who facilitated this security hole will then be the mega star of Season X.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com