- Spin too has a limit
Both Fawad Ch and Sh Rasheed had insisted that Nawaz Sharif would never get relief in corruption cases filed against him. Soon things started happening that they had not anticipated. The SC upheld the IHC’s verdict ordering the suspension of prison sentences awarded in Avenfield reference to Nawaz Shari. Sharif’s counsel meanwhile filed a petition in IHC seeking suspension of his client’s jail sentence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills/Hill Metals Establishment reference.
As if this was not enough to make both spin masters lose face, Imran Khan agreed to support the nomination of Shahbaz Sharif as PAC chairman to help initiate the much needed legislative process. This led Sh Rashid to give a spin to the happenings. The Sharifs had been begging for a deal (which was altogether false, they had only won a legal battle). They will never get a deal but might receive ‘dhheel’ i.e., relaxation in the form of being allowed to go abroad for a while. Fawad Ch however was forced to admit that NAB and the courts were free even to perpetuate a system that provided one type of treatment to the privileged and a different one to the downtrodden.
Spin has characterised the statements of quite a few other PTI minsters. Whenever anything went wrong during the last more than five months due to the ineptness of the government, it was blamed on the previous government’s policies or bureaucracy. Gas problems that arose because of petroleum minister’s inefficiency led to the dismissal of two Sui Gas MDs. The initial response from petroleum minister to the unprecedented hike in the gas bills was that this was necessitated because the previous government had bought the gas at high rates and had been selling it at low rates.
The party leadership is now finding it difficult to sell the excuse even to PTI’s followers. Imran Khan has directed Buzdar to consider formation of a judicial commission on Sahiwal killings despite the Punjab CM claiming that he was satisfied with the JIT report and there was no need for a judicial commission. Petroleum minister has also been told to find out the actual reasons behind the gas hike.
