Smart idea?
The realisation that the Supreme Court verdict was not quite the clean chit that the sweets, hugs and insults implied must now have set in among the prime minister’s kitchen cabinet. And there are only so many directions the pending investigation can really take. There’s a reason, after all, for the two in the three-two. And, once you see the fine print in that five-hundred-something page monstrosity, you’ll see that the prime minister did himself no favours by contradicting himself; in the House no less, shortly after his children contradicted themselves on TV.
The verdict has definitely added to, if not triggered, a premature election campaign on the part of PML-N. And PTI and PPP have replied in kind, of course. That, in the Pakistani context, means much mud-slinging much ahead of time. Now, just to deflect attention, Nawaz has locked himself into a year-long campaign. That means a whole year of public spending, squeezing the treasury, etc. And how smart was it, in these circumstances, to set off yet another controversy by meeting Sajjan Jindal in the thick of the night? Surely he didn’t violate his visa and head off to Murree just for a cup of tea with the Pakistani PM. Now there’s so much to answer for. Why’s he here? Back channel diplomacy? Could this be about Jadhav? Are they making deals and keeping it all from everybody?
If Nawaz thought this would just deflect more attention, or perhaps imply he was in ‘business as usual’ mode, he was wrong. The cup of tea has landed him in hot waters again, and this was anything but ‘business as usual’. It seems in trying to wriggle to avoid one axe Nawaz is putting his neck in the way of another. Increasingly he’s getting caught in a labyrinth of his own making. The JIT, too, has begun ticking. Whether or not it’s a time bomb remains to be seen.
