Eye on the ball, please
Sure, the prime minister created history by appearing before the JIT the other day. But that is most likely because he would have found himself in the middle of quite another historic moment if he had declined. The Supreme Court has been pretty clear about its no-nonsense approach towards the JIT, even if the honourable court itself left a little something to be desired while investigating the case – strangely not asking for the money trail of said Panama companies, even though it is the first port of call in such cases.
Since the break-down of the sit-down is a no-go area till the JIT completes its 60-day deadline, what followed the three-hour exchange was, immediately, more interesting. Nawaz once again read out what he wanted to say, vindicating critics who are convinced has trouble holding an impromptu conversation. And while the bit about the electorate being the next JIT, etc, made a lot of political sense, the other part did not. Why go out of the way – have someone write it, then himself read it before the cameras – and bring up ‘puppet shows’ and ‘conspirators’ and ‘political drama’, etc, at this particular point in time?
The ruling party should realise that if the Panama case is indeed a conspiracy to unseat PML-N, then the combined opposition has played a grand game indeed – bringing together conspirators including journalists in Europe, bankers in the Caribbean and, of course, sleuths from the homeland. Such claims, coming form no less than the PM, will actually harm PML-N’s road to the next election. The ideal way forward has, unfortunately, been rejected so many times by the ruling family that it makes little sense repeating it. Yet, if the Sharifs really are innocent of the charges leveled against them, then they must provide proof of owning the money that bought all those properties, i.e. the money trail.