- Ball in Nawaz’s court
If Nawaz Sharif can break down the mechanics of ‘aliens’ conducting pre-poll rigging to reporters outside the accountability court, surely he can also drive down to the Supreme Court, where he is being repeatedly summoned, and say his bit about the Asghar Khan case once and for all. There wouldn’t be any ‘juice’ left in the rigging, would there, if he’d simply prove his innocence? Besides, what does it say of a statesman if he’s been avoiding a Rs140 million question, of vital national importance, for a decade and a half? CJP Saqib Nisar seems determined to break fresh ground, so there’s only so long Nawaz will be ‘busy with other cases’ to keep this one waiting.
Suddenly there’s also the NAB inquiries for misuse of power, against Nawaz, Shahbaz and Khaqan, in the LNG contracts business; another serious setback. Again – since all three claim they are completely innocent in this and all matters – aren’t their interests better served by accepting transparent legal proceedings rather than dragging the matter on the streets? Shahbaz, of course, must still be reeling from the dressing down by the chief justice and what it might imply as prying eyes of the judiciary study the suspect 56 companies’ books.
Considering Nawaz’s one-point assault agenda for the election campaign, the Asghar Khan case has come back – or has been brought back – from the dead at a particularly difficult time. He had just spun his ‘why me’ lament around the country, deflecting attention from his financial corruption to some sort of crusade against some aliens, in an attempt to gain momentum ahead of the election. Now, he must explain if he was really part of the gang that gulped hundreds of millions, handed down by ISI, to kill Benazir Bhutto’s election campaign back in the day. And the sooner he comes clean the better since the SC is seems in no mood to hang around. The ball, then, is in Nawaz’s court.