Daily Times

As the government consumes itself with bringing back former prime minister Nawaz from London, as is clear from the statements of senior officials, one is left wondering all over again whether this entire exercise is really about serving justice, following legal procedures or indeed a plain old witch hunt to settle old scores. For if the government’s core mission is really a drive against corruption, along with Pakistan’s economic revival of course, then there is plenty that it should have gone after and fixed already instead of trying to nail as many opposition politicians as possible and then falling short.

Perhaps the prime minister should make a corruption index of the many ministries that his government runs directly in the centre. Surely nobody not even in government can claim that any branch of government is really corruption-free. And, if all ministers are tasked with cleaning their own house, which brings to light and settles various matters relating directly to fraud, money laundering, etc, then the government’s efforts would be out there for everybody to see. Once it settles whatever rot is possible in this manner, then it can go after old politicians with the public or the press, or the opposition for that matter, unable to raise much hue and cry.

There can be no denying that our breed of traditional politicians have fleeced the country to no end over the decades. So much so that people eventually came round to accepting their fate as people of a republic where rulers rule for their own benefit, that too at the expense of the public and the treasury, and there’s nothing really that anybody can do about it. That is precisely why Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf’s (PTI’s) drive against corruption resonated so loudly with the country’s youth and progressive lot. But PTI does itself, especially its commitment to fair play, no justice by putting the cart before the horse. It is only natural for opposition politicians and their friends in the press to raise counter-slogans of victimisation when the government’s justice machinery puts everything else aside and goes after those that ruled us before with a single-minded determination. While it should proceed against whomever there is compelling evidence, it must quickly revise its strategy so it comes across as more convincing for the average Pakistani. *