Daily Times

Opposition leader Zubair Umar is right that the controversial secret video doing the rounds on the internet, which he claims to be fake, has marked a new low in Pakistani politics. The only thing to go on right now is accusations, and a lot of counter accusations, so it will probably be a while before the complete truth about this matter comes to the public. But suffice to say that despite all the indecencies that our politics has featured over the decades, we’ve not seen tactics quite this distasteful before.

The video features said PML-N leader in objectionable company of a number of women. If a forensic audit of these videos reveals them to be right and the former Sindh governor wrong, then this would be the classic case of honey trapping someone to squeeze something out of them. But since everybody is still pretty innocent in this Islamic Republic till proven guilty, the accusations must take a back seat for the moment and the present time would be much better spent trying to understand the motive of whoever leaked this; especially if the video is doctored.

Avari Towers, where the alleged indiscretions took place, has also released a statement denying presence of spy cams, or any sort of cameras for that matter, in their hotels. And if the video is still real then somebody put the cameras there without the consent, or even knowledge, of the Avari staff; that is if it really was Avari Hotels where the incident took place. Much is still shrouded in mystery, but hopefully things will begin to become clear soon enough. Either way, this matter should not be abandoned short of completion. People must know the facts and if hotels have indeed become unsafe for couples, even married people, and videos can be used later for purposes like blackmail, then it is a very serious matter and something equally serious should be done about it. The least Avari Group could do is carry out a through-and-through investigation of this so-called sting operation. Bringing forward whoever executed and facilitated the exercise to compromise a big wheel would not only put the lingering questions to rest but also restore public’s trust in them. Otherwise, who knows who else would next land on the deadly radar. *