And the results: end to Nawaz Sharif’s reign or an end to Imran Khan’s demands?
Imran Khan said that the hearing has been beneficial and this is the first time the apex court has taken responsibility.
For the past few months, there hasn’t been an end to the issues revolving around the Panama leaks and the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The opposition party is firm on their demands to see the premiere out or they will continue demanding the accountability of the Sharif family for having offshore accounts which surfaced back in April earlier this year.
In light of recent events a lot of questions are raised after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) called off the Nov 2 ‘lockdown’. The decision came a day before the planned event after the hearing of petitions against the PM and his family members in the Panamagate case.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan, while addressing the media after the apex court hearing, said that his party had two conditions: firstly, the PM resigns and secondly he allowed a probe into the Panama Papers matter.
“We tried to get justice from parliament, but our efforts drew a blank. The NAB, FIA also denied us justice and then we thought of going to the people of Pakistan,” he said while justifying the ‘lockdown’.
In addition to that, he said that Nawaz Sharif had harmed the progress of Pakistan through corruption.
However, after the SC hearing Khan was of the view that this has been a step towards justice; towards democracy.
Imran Khan said that the hearing has been beneficial and this is the first time the apex court has taken responsibility.
Following that, Nawaz Sharif’s children Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz are given time till Monday to submit their responses to the court. This will facilitate the final decision to finalise the Terms of References (ToRs) submitted by all the parties and form the single-member commission.
PTI Chairman has been titled the ‘U-turn Khan’ after the recent back-out from locking down the capital. But the question here is, did he really back out or did he play smart after the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to probe into the Panama matter.
Things are still in limbo until the SC hearing on Monday as the most important decision will take place then.
Is Imran Khan playing the waiting game before the SC’s final decision?
Analysts believe that Khan has managed to secure a much-needed face-saving from the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Not only that, what would be PTI’s move if the final ToRs fail to meet their demands? Are they going to resort to protests again?
Similarly, if the apex court asks Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), what will be the response of the government? If not, and PTI decides another sit-in rally, how will the government handle the pressure this time?
These are questions that need quantifiable answers, because justice needs to be served, even if it’s the Prime Minister who needs to be held accountable.
“We know that the opposition has no case,” said PML-N Information Secretary Mushaid Ullah Khan while talking to DNA.
“Last time the elections were rigged and that is when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) federal minister said that ‘corruption is our right’, and this time again they are standing with no case,” Khan continued.
“Imran Khan, Jahangir Tareen, and Aleem Khan all have offshore accounts too, so why is the PM the only one under investigation?” Khan asked.
“The declarations made by the opposition have all been wrong ever since 2015, yet they continue to make them. If it was a government spokesperson making such statements things would get out of hand.”
While referring to the investigations happened on PTI’s Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Mushaidullah Khan said that if a government spokesperson was caught running like that, things would go fanatical, again.
While talking about if the PM is asked for accountability Khan said, “Everybody knows it, the world knows it, there is no case against the PM, and he is not corrupt.”
“It is our job to take care of the state,” he said.
If PTI resorts to something like this again, we as the ruling government will have to handle it, democratically, Mushahid said.
“Lockdown is terrorism, we cannot let the opposition do things their way while we sit idle.”
On the other hand, PTI’s mission was to get the issue to the court of law, said PTI’s Karachi chapter President Ali Zaidi while talking to DNA.
PTI wants justice to be served and corrupt leaders to be held accountable, thus, approaching the Supreme Court was the best idea as it is the ‘highest court of the land,’ Zaidi said.
“SC has now formed a commission to probe into the crime and we will accept the decision of the court,” he added.
Things are still in limbo until the SC hearing on Monday as the most important decision will take place then.
“We can only speculate what will happen as of now, it all depends on SC’s attitude to probe into the matter,” said columnist and a senior politician Ayaz Amir while talking to DNA over the phone.
“The matter will either get buried or it will be explosive for the PM,” he added.
“The decision of the SC is the most awaited one as of the present situation, the kind of commission that is going to be by the court, who will it be, how will they work, this is something that is too early to mention as of now,” Amir continued to say.
“If the PM is asked to give an account of his offshore accounts and he is not able to, will be a great deal for PTI,” he said.
We can only wait to see in whose court the ball will fall in.
If things don’t go according to plan for PTI, they will have to stand by their decision to go with the court’s decision on the matter.
However, if the ball is in PTI’s ground holding the PM accountable, it will then be the government who should play fair and should agree to the opposition’s demand to give up the power.
