- Truth dawning belatedly on Asad Umar
Some of the PTI leaders are finally realising that the major accusations levelled by the party against political opponents were hasty and superficial. Soon after the publication of the Panama Papers, the party claimed that everyone with offshore assets was corrupt till it discovered that PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen too possessed such assets. He was later disqualified for life under the same Article 62 (1-f) that led to Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification. Now the accusations against previous governments taking recourse to IMF and letting the rupee slide and prices rise have boomeranged with the PTI government sheepishly following in its opponents’ footsteps.
While announcing in Washington that Pakistan had ‘more or less’ reached an understanding on a package with the much-maligned IMF, an embarrassed Asad Umar, the Finance Minister of “Naya Pakistan,” had to take recourse to the philosophical remark, ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same.’ Then explaining why the country under Prime Minister Imran Khan had to seek IMF’s help, he conceded that “there is something obviously, structurally wrong” with the economic policies followed by successive governments. Then to everybody’s surprise he admitted what the PTI has never been willing to do, that “While there may be specific decisions that contribute to this, or people who may be responsible, but there is clearly something structural at play which goes beyond personalities and decisions.”
While Mr Khan used to maintain that with him occupying the office of the PM, corruption would be brought to an end within weeks, many PTI leaders concede this is better said than done. They however insist that no PTI minister is involved in any financial misdemeanour or misuse of power. Mr Khan meanwhile continues to harp day in and day out on his political opponents’ corruption. A minister admits it is easier to blame but difficult to fulfil the promises. The PTI’s opponents however insist that the government is creating hurdles in the way of the accountability bodies. They cite the example of the PTI’s provincial cabinet abolishing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) after it tried to probe some of the party’s key figures. People wait for the day when NAB is seen to be acting independently.
