Not a good idea
Politicians have a certain way of making things work for their benefit. And that is not even their greatest achievement; that happens to be making everybody believe that what they are doing is actually for the greater good. But spin it however they might, they can’t control the eventual outcome of their actions. Something of the sort is actually unraveling these days among our very own political class.
ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan has stated that his party, along with the PPP and MQM, despite being at the forefront of war against terror, is being marginlaised in the national political scene. His statement seems to be an indication of frustration on being unable to practically counter the negative image the actions of Rangers and courts have taken against the members of PPP and MQM. While Rangers’ actions may be an overstepping of the mandate it had been entrusted with, there is no reason to worry if these politicians’ hands are not dirty. These three parties have had more than ample time to prove how good they were at governance, but in a glaring show of ineptness they failed to deliver, with their terms being rife with corruption allegations, terrorism and a much worse law and order situation.
On the one hand, though these parties have been a target of terrorism yet it is no excuse for their failure to deliver on the promises made during election campaigns. On the other hand, their complaint is genuine: Rangers’ actions against these parties in the ongoing operation in Karachi do not entirely speak of objectivity and impartiality because a) Rangers is not mandated to take action on corruption allegations, and b) there are civilian organisations that are set up to handle corruption cases. Moreover, the role of PML-N so far does not appear to be impartial — there are as many politicians with corruption cases in PML-N as in any other party and yet no action has been taken against any one of them.
Corruption cannot be condoned in any way. However, rounding up corrupt politicians under the garb of war on terrorism is also not justified. Their corruption charges should be dealt with separately, and in accordance with the law of the land.
