Nawaz Sharif narrated the history of their family’s business in parliament with utmost confidence and consistency. When the premier was giving the economic history of his family, he knew that the attention of everyone in media and public was on him. Actually, it proved to be a strategic opportunity for Sharif to clear his position and he took full advantage of this opportunity. Political circumstances that were provided by the opposition, and later the role of opposition converted the mistake of Sharif into an opportunity. It does not matter whether he uttered facts or narrated a fake story. Keeping in view the history of Pakistan, this nation would soon forget facts brought by Sharif and the walkout of the opposition, but they would remember one thing that Sharif gave a strong speech without facing any kind of hindrance.
The Panama chapter is on the way to be closed now. This was the last time that it had a burning status that could change the entire discourse on corruption, but the opposition including Imran Khan and Aitzaz Ahsin could not take full advantage of this opportunity to make any substantial change. 70 questions might be raised again but they would not be striking enough to be answered. If questions would be raised, they are not going to be proven productive to have any real effect. Opposition should have formulated a back-up strategy to counter Sharif on the floor of parliament instead of staging a walkout from the assembly. This walkout did not do any good other than giving more space to Sharif for political maneuvering.
The issue of the Panama leaks had enough potential to enact stronger legislation to curb the menace of corruption and to break the tradition of corruption. Unfortunately, politicians belonging to the opposition parties, not surprisingly, give more importance to their own interest sidelining the bigger national interest. They aimed at Sharif only for certain political objectives, and for the sake of old rivalry, thus missing the opportunity to figure out a way to protect the nation from the malaise of corruption, or at least make it harder for politicians to indulge in practices of corruption.
It was not the first time that the grand scandal of corruption was enshrouded in the National Assembly, as there is a parliamentary history of providing cover for all kinds of dubious scandals. Sharif, like any other politician, exploited the utility of the National Assembly to baffle the nation, or more precisely, to con the nation again. We also have a long history of being conned by politicians without attaching too much importance to it. Very soon we will demonstrate this generosity again.
In this scenario, elimination of corruption has never ever been the agenda or primary objective of politicians including the incumbent government. The ruling elite cannot be blamed because the National Assembly ‘drama’ was the prerequisite for resumption of governmental power. However, the opposition must be censured because they could not utilise this scandal in favour of this nation but attempted to exploit it for their own interests.
The position of the PTI has also unsatisfactory, behaving as if they were oblivious to everything happening around him. After conducting some small observations, it can be claimed that the PTI was hijacked inadvertently by the PPP. The PTI could not position itself properly in the National Assembly drama. Imran Khan, Chairman PTI, seemed clear about his offshore company, but in the case of Sharif he could not delineate the position of the PTI. The PTI was expected to play a vital role for legislation and other long lasting strategies against corruption and tax evasion. Unfortunately, the PTI also became the traditional political party, or at least in this case played the role of traditional political party.
Over all, the role of the opposition on the issue of the Panama leaks revealed that nothing has changed in this country. Positive political developments cannot take place under the supervision and with the participation of these political parties. Shortsighted, selfish role played by the opposition also dsiplayed the unfortunate fact that they can still ruthlessly crush the broader interest of the nation for the sake of their political rivalry.
The writer is a staff member. He can reached at [email protected], and on Twitter @alibaberali