Daily Times

Former FBR chairman Shabbar Zaidi clearly likes to stay in the headlines. It’s either that or whatever he says is blown way, way out of proportions to make for colourful tickers on social media. The ongoing series over his “bankruptcy” remarks is going down the same route he usually takes. Stir the hornet’s nest, make a phenomenal song and dance, throw in some dramatic terms that would take the nation by storm and then drift back to his retired life. He has already tweeted the much-expected clarification amid swirling talk of media cherry-picking his analysis to carve a mountain out of the slippery-tongued molehill but the multi-million dollar remains: why give the ratings-hungry outlets this golden opportunity?

Wasn’t it just recently that the chief accountant was driven into a political crossfire when the PDM umbrella had engineered a rather catchy slogan of “FIR against the government” out of his long-drawn-out admission of guilt. Mr Zaidi might have convinced himself with his strongly-worded salvos on Twiter but quite ironically, all was not well (even then). Taking a leaf out of his own playbook, he is expected to sail on two boats at a time. A surreally romantic rendition of his time spent with the ruling government but simultaneously, cracking a tight whip at its policies!

There is no denying the acumen of the dear ex-chief, but why couldn’t he create anything meaningful during his days in the most important office. Pakistan has long suffered from an abysmal tax collection. No doubts about that. But instead of leaving anchorpersons in jitters over sharp=twisted repostes against businessmen who “took Maltan nationalities and hid their treasuries in Switzerland,” why did he not dare bring them under the net? Seemingly, it is much easier to lecture others on what cheats they are than to put in the hard work yourself.

When he took the helm of the top tax-collecting agency with a lofty revenue target of Rs 5555 billion, everyone around him was in awe of this astonishing asset borrowed from the private sector. But him leaving on a trademark sordid note reflects just as much on his empty tirades as on the agency’s troubling bearings. Yes, it would be downright foolish to expect anyone to pull rabbits out of their hats unless the whole system is overhauled top-to-bottom. But if Mr Zaidi was not competent enough to take care of the stumbling blocks right under his nose (and then complain about them like a damsel in distress), he wasn’t that magical, was he? To top his nothing-out-of-the-ordinary stint, the less talked about his massive corruption chronicles and playing second fiddle to property tycoons, the better! *