In my op-ed piece last Tuesday, I asked Imran Khan to not be so happy on the apparently worsening situation of the ruling family and party. I mentioned that Imran Khan is the fourth one in the ‘minus four formula’ that is being executed by the ‘hidden hand’ which in fact is not so hidden. Another factor I mentioned was the change in the strategy to get rid of the ‘annoying’ and ‘frustrating’ elements in national politics for the ‘best interest of the nation’. The higher judiciary is doing the right thing in exposing the wrongs of the two leading politicians. These politicians have been pretending to be the angels for ages. In a way it is good, but it should not be limited to only a few politicians. The ‘minus four formula’ should be expanded to include hundreds of other politicians, judges, army officers, media persons, business tycoons and property mafia dons. This is certainly an uphill task but once the formula is implemented, socio-economic and political growth will surge. Two significant political developments took place over the weekend. First, opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah endorsed my view that Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan will soon be out of politics due to allegations of corruption and foreign funding of the PTI by Indian and Jewish sources. The second development is linked to the aforementioned viewpoint. That the PTI chief also failed to provide a money-trail. I believe most ‘tycoons’ would fail to provide the money trails of their assets. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has reserved the verdict in Imran Khan’s petition against Prime Minister Nawaz on the issue of off shore companies and flats in London as mentioned in the Panama Leaks. Regardless of the verdict, the entire process of ‘accountability’ has severely damaged the financial market of the country, which has caused a major dent in the economy. The economic, political and strategic ramifications of the verdict will last for a while. Sooner or later, someone will reveal the exact facts behind the political lynching of the sitting prime minister, and the actual aims and objectives of Imran Khan’s petition. Moreover, the development in Hanif Abbasi’s petition against Imran Khan will further fuel economic and political instability. While the two main political parties are engaged in this tug of war, the country is fast losing its creditability in international financial markets. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) has already gone down by more than 8000 points in a week’s time while experts are predicting greater losses for the PSE in the coming days due to the political turmoil. All this is coming at a time when the American dollar is fast increasing in value. An article written by a financial analyst in June 2017 claimed, “When the Pakistan Stock Exchange provided returns of a stunning 46pc in 2016 — the highest returns on equity investments by any market across Asia — market participants and regulators moved about puffing their chest. Brokers and analysts projected the Index would hit 56,000 points by Dec 2017, up another 8,300 points from Jan 1. Good times continued to roll for the PSX well into 2017. On May 25, the benchmark KSE-100 index hit an intra-day all-time high at 53,124 points — upside of 11pc from Jan 1. That marked the peak from which the index came crashing down. In just 16 trading sessions until last Friday, the Index has lost 6,265 points, representing an incredibly steep fall of 12pc.” The ‘minus four formula’ should be expanded to include other politicians, and individuals from other sectors, such as judges, army officers, and business tycoons. This will certainly be an uphill task but once the formula is implemented — socio-economic and political growth will surge The entire ‘accountability drama’ seems to be motivated to make the ‘minus four formula’ a reality, either by hook or by crook, and at the cost of economic and political instability. One can easily smell the rot while examining the process adopted to conduct proceedings against one of the over four hundred names which appeared in the Panama Leaks. Whatever the motives behind all this, the agenda was to damage and hamper Pakistan’s financial market that has suffered a loss of billions. No one is pure in politics. Instead, it is a matter of opportunity of who gets the chance and up to what level. It is a completely different debate to argue if the lesser evil is indeed better or not, and how to judge a lesser evil. And so is the question whether if purity and impurity are limited solely to politics or extend to other sections of society as well? Is this menace prevalent only in our society or is it a global phenomenon? Surely, it is not a problem in our society alone. If this is the case, what is the difference between the accountability process that we adopt and what exists across the globe? We need to adopt a process that does not harm economic and political stability but eliminates corruption smoothly, without spreading anarchy or turmoil. The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com. He tweets @EmmayeSyed Published in Daily Times, July 25th 2017.