Soon after the Panama scandal was unearthed, the opposition parties demanded that the Prime Minister (PM) explain his position in the parliament. After some hesitation, he obliged them and made a statement at the floor of the house, which rather than solving the matter, complicated this issue further. The government ministers and PML-N leaders however, proclaimed that as PM had explained his position in the National Assembly, he was clean, honest, and innocent. The members of the opposition, especially PTI, were not satisfied. There was an effort to form a commission, but parties could not agree on TORs. The finance minister, despite his best human ingenuity and efforts to manoeuver the situation, failed to unite government and opposition on the issue. The issue was finally taken up by the SC, which after lengthy deliberations inquired if the parties would want a commission. The PM’s lawyer readily agreed, with some reservation about TORs. The PTI turned down the option to form a commission and expressed confidence in the court. Surprisingly, the court citing reason of shortage of time adjourned the case until Jan 17, 2017 and left the matter open to new bench. At this, some government ministers took upon themselves the duty to interpret adjournment order as a victory and accused Imran Khan of backing out from his original demand of commission. On the other hand, IK took pride in dragging the PM in the SC. It is amazing that all characters in this farcical drama allege that their opponent’s lies have been exposed and people have seen for themselves who respected the courts. One wonders if our leaders really believe in what they say, or they just believe that the entire nation is stupid enough to see their blatant moral bankruptcy and utter disrespect for law.
RAJA SHAFAATULLAH
Islamabad