As Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing his family’s alleged corruption on Thursday, news broke in Washington that President Donald Trump was being investigated for ‘obstruction of justice’ by the Federal Bureau of Investigation-named counsel Bob Mueller. The investigation was termed by the Washington Post as a ‘turning point’ against Trump, just as Pakistani media termed Sharif’s appearance before the JIT as a culminating point in the Panama Papers case.
The US president’s tale is very similar to that of our own PM.
The similarities in Nawaz and Trump’s cases are overwhelming. Both are businessmen who made billions, legally or illegally, and also made to the top of political power ladder. Both appear to be protecting their businesses more keenly than running their countries. Both have family business ties with arch rivals of their countries. Both have family members involved in business and politics, in right or wrong ways. Both have tried to hide personal financial information — Trump refused to release his tax returns and Nawaz was unable to provide money trail of his family’s foreign assets. Both are now in the dock, Nawaz facing a JIT constituted on the Supreme Court’s directives and Trump facing a special investigator named by the FBI. But, both are operating in different political and legal environments — one real and the other dysfunctional, almost fake.
Trump is to be questioned because he spoke — just spoke — to some officials and told them to help stop the probe into his links with the Russians. On the other hand, Sharif has asked for what he is getting. He and his family lied over and over again on national TV and in Parliament until the highest court in the country moved in and took charge, probing the case and then forming an investigation team. Trump is to be questioned just because he tried to influence a probe. Sharif, his family and his party members have on numerous occasions obstructed the course of justice by threatening SC judges, members of the JIT and others opposed to them.
While Sharif has all state institutions, except the SC, under his thumb, Trump has to face independent institutions like the FBI, a confused Republican Party, Senate and House committees, and the media. This is the difference between real and fake democracies.
So far, Sharif has gotten away with his deeds as his political party acts like an army of personal servants. His favourites appointed as heads of key institutions protect him, sometimes even illegally. CDA repairs roads and cuts trees to the route where an accused PM is summoned to appear for questioning. Cronies in the media raise hell because a photo of his son appears in newspapers. On the contrary, Trump’s party has not defended him.
But if only one institution stands up to be counted, all efforts to save criminals can prove futile. The SC did just that, and since the day the news of Panama Papers leak was reported, we have come to a point where all old cases of money laundering are being reopened. The PM himself has been brought in the dock and his family has been questioned over their business dealings.
Nawaz’s party and most of the institutions are his loyalists, and they would go to any extent to save him even if they have to break laws or tamper with records and documents, as alleged by the JIT
In the past, Nawaz Sharif and his party have confronted the judiciary, actually bribed and physically attacked judges and gotten away with that. The presence of popular independent electronic media was one missing factor at that time. But now it is a different ball game. Every statement and word said inside and outside the court is being recorded and will be presented in courts when needed.
Rawalpindi has so far not intervened in the political or legal process, but what the military is clear about is that the legal and political process has to continue. That means the SC and the JIT will have full protection of law enforcement agencies. No more attacks on judges. If that is ensured, Pakistani democracy could be saved and it may survive. The Army has been provoked again and again to intervene and the corrupt have used those instances to claim political martyrdom and portray themselves as victims. But this time, saner counsel has prevailed and the law has been allowed to take its course. For Trump, the problems have just begun because — being a businessman used to making deals — he tried his business experience in politics and failed to get results of his liking. For Sharif, his party and most of the institutions are his loyalists, and they would go to any extent to save him even if they have to break laws or tamper with records and documents, as alleged by the JIT. Yet if Trump goes down because of his inexperience and arrogance, he will go down alone and his party will survive. If Nawaz Sharif goes down, the entire Sharif family, his government and the PML-N’s house of cards will go down, like it did in 1999 when his two thirds majority vanished into thin air. If Trump fails to prove his innocence, it will be his personal failure. If Nawaz Sharif fails to do so, it will not just be the end of his politics but also of his business and his illegally earned money.
The writer is a senior journalist