Why then, does he now spend it with his family in London?
OKARA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has returned from his historical stay in London, for medical treatment. It was a prolonged stay of no particular benefit to the nation he leads, and by expending whose taxes did he plan his grand trip? It might even be the longest-ever running stay in the city by any nation’s prime minister. Not surprisingly, for although there exist much worse off countries than Pakistan, whose leaders when in ill health, seem to find healthcare within their borders. Not because of moral constraints but because of their high status as leaders, they have access to the very best that their nation can offer and Nawaz Sharif is no exception.
The days are not forgotten when an exiled Sharif would cry out that General (retd) Pervez Musharraf would not let him spend Eid with his people. Why then, does he now spend it with his family in London? He recently stated that he would gladly attend the funeral of the great Abdul Sattar Edhi had his health allowed him, but Mr Sharif’s health problems seem to only allow him frequent visits to London’s top notch shopping malls.
Nawaz Sharif’s entire stay in office may be summed up in the explanation given for the Panama leaks scandal: not illegal, just highly unethical. When someone at the highest level of the government chooses a foreign country over one’s own, be it for his own well-being, he sets a precedent for everyone below him to do the same, and favour themselves and their families over the nation they have been given to serve as duty. And, in the gross lack of professional criticism, the ruling party gains a free hand to continue this callous abuse of power. After all, how difficult can it be to understand that if you are the elected leader of a nation, your income, struggle, living, enjoyment, life and death should be within the country? In Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s case, it still seems unclear.
Hassan Kamal Wattoo
Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2016.
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