ToR Deadlock

Panama forever

The opposition’s own internal disharmony is clearly going to be a consistent part of this ToR deadlock. Not an inch of progress was made on Friday, as Shah Mahmood Qureshi rightly summed up the last meeting, and there’s not much chance of Monday bringing much better news. Things might have been different if PTI had gone along with the gambit of removing the PM’s name, but only because he would have been dragged into the investigation regardless; because of association, etc. Now there’s no telling what it will take the government to commit.

From the looks of things, the 15 points will do a good deal of back and forth between the government and opposition parties. And with Nawaz now in London for far longer than expected – on account of the open heart surgery – the process will undoubtedly become more complicated. Also, it’s not very likely that the opposition will be any flexible so long as PTI has anything to say about the matter. The only confirmed result, so far, is extension of the political and governance paralysis that has come about in wake of the Panama leaks.

To be fair, there is truth in the opposition demand that the government end the deadlock. Being innocent until proven guilty is one thing, but when a ruling party is found in possession of wealth that might well be dubious, it is the party’s responsibility to lay doubts to rest. PML-N’s foot dragging, therefore, does the party no good. Surely by now the Sharifs have realised that they can delay matters only until an official investigation takes off. Once it gets the green light, things will move very quickly; as they tend to in cases of tracking international financial transfers. They cannot, therefore, put off Panama forever. So the sooner they agree to ToRs the better for everybody concerned, especially the people who are suffering as a result of the political breakdown.