It is hard to dismiss the growing clout of power-broker Jahangir Tareen as he sets out for a crusade to clear his name. Flanked by around 22 Insafian MPAs and eight MNAs, former secretary-general of the ruling PTI called for a free and fair investigation; not one “mired in controversy” or operating “on someone’s phone call.” The sugar baron is being investigated by the FIA over involvement in a great scam kicked off by a cartel of sugar manufacturing companies.
In an ideal world, such a brigade of serious charges and the ensuing bold inquiry should have brought nothing but praise for the agency. After all, last June’s report by the sugar inquiry commission had left many shell-shocked with claims about Tareen’s JDW controlling 19.97 per cent of the sugar production. This, coupled with the money laundering allegations to the tune of Rs 3.14 billion, is no joke. But the fact that Tareen has held back no punches while blaming a government bureaucrat, Azam Khan, as the force behind his downfall. He even holds him responsible for orchestrating the shuffling of his said allies, including PM’s Advisor on Establishment, Shahzad Arbab. It doesn’t help those spinning the angle of Khan’s anti-corruption campaign that a sitting minister had startlingly revealed that infighting between Tareen, Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi had led to both Umar’s ouster as finance minister and removal of Tareen’s influence from party politics. Going by Pakistan’s dark and dismal history of political victimisation (the notorious Ehtesab Bureau of Sharifs), we can safely assume that some powerful “babus” are highly likely to be behind this personal score-settling. This is not to make light of the allegations against former PTI stalwart. If found to actually have headed the sugar mafia that manipulated both government subsidies and market forces to steal from poor sugarcane growers and unaware consumers, he should be taken to task. There remain no qualms about PM Khan setting a new benchmark for moral values and accountability by even-handedly dealing with someone so close to him. But neither the Captain nor the masses want another name added to the abysmal witch-hunt by the powers that be.
Widely known for his shrewdness and political expertise, Tareen must have some card hidden deep in his playbook to get out of his predicament. For starters, he seems all the more determined to show his political muscle. Burying heads in the sand would not help downplay the grand spectacle of the PTI’s internal squabbling. While Tareen recently hosted as many as 29 lawmakers at his residence, several of his teammates are adamant in calling the dinner “no big deal.” With the likes of our interior and foreign ministers banding together in downplaying the Tareen threat, the house of cards appears ready to fall to the ground anytime. The line being adopted by the PTI ministers against their prime architect is very surprising, to say the least. The once right hand of the skipper is not being lambasted for his “addiction to money.” The writing on the wall could not be more clear: if the ever-so-confident Tareen loses his smirk in this fight, he would have many brothers-in-arms to lay at his door! *