With Sword of Damocles overhead, PPP unlikely to rock the boat

Two inquiries against two PPP bigwigs pending with PM inspection team

ISLAMABAD: Desperate for the opposition’s support to take the sting out of Imran Khan’s capital lockdown plan, the government is said to be using two dormant inquiries involving corruption and misuse of power against two PPP bigwigs as the Sword of Damocles to keep the main opposition party from rocking the boat.

The PPP’s policy vis-à-vis the Nov 2 dharna of PTI has been ambiguous thus far. While Khursheed Shah, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, calls it ‘illegal and unconstitutional’, his colleague in the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, says Imran has every right to stage a sit-in in Islamabad.



This doublespeak has led political analysts to believe that the PPP would never join hands with the PTI, though it may not come out in the open in support of the government. And Imran knows this well.

The government is using two ‘dead’ inquiries as a ‘trump card’ to win PPP’s favours on contentious political issues, according to informed sources. “This has greatly helped,” said a senior official. “We have often seen PPP’s mild opposition or its silent endorsement of the government’s policies,” he added. “We can see this in the ongoing confrontation between the PTI and PML-N on Panamagate.”

Another source called it a ‘marriage of convenience’. “The two parties have an undeclared agreement whereby they protect each other’s interests to their mutual benefit, though they routinely exchange hostile rhetoric in public,” the source added.

A confidential Performance Report, dated December 10, 2014, reveals that the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC), led by the then chairman Colonel (retd) Saifuddin Qureshi, had initiated an inquiry against Khursheed Shah in May 2014, consciously ahead of PTI’s dharna that continued until August.

The report — a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune — was sent to the PMIC’s then senior member (audit and finance), Hussain Iqrar Khawaja, by Deputy Director-I Muhammad Saleh Narejo.



“The probe regarding alleged illegal appointments and promotions of officers/officials during the last five years — case of Dr Abdul Hameed Jumani, director general, Workers Welfare Fund, Islamabad, and illegal foreign posting of the labour attache by Syed Khursheed Shah, ex-federal minister for labour and manpower, is pending at chairman PMIC,” says the report.



Shah was the minister for labour and manpower in the federal cabinet during the PPP’s previous stint in power from 2008 to 2013.

The report reveals that in August 2014, another high-profile inquiry was initiated into an alleged ‘multibillion-rupee scam’ that involved Sindh’s accountant general and other senior officials. “The inquiry is still under follow-up,” it says.

The two inquiries, it further states, were detailed as ‘national issues’ and suggested speedy “correspondence with the Prime Minister’s Office regarding conduct of inquiries and inspections regarding selected national issues by the PMIC.”

In this context, the PMIC initiated a file, titled “Fortnightly Reports Submission to the Prime Minister, which is under follow-up”, the confidential document reveals.

“The trails of both these probes led to the top PPP leadership,” officials said. “Despite having solid clues and traces in both cases, the inquiries have been hushed up for politically motivated reasons.”



Consequently, the PPP in general and Khursheed Shah in particular remained soft on the government throughout the PTI 2014 dharna, despite being an opposition party, sources said. “Even though the party sometimes traded barbs with the government but that was more of a friendly fire,” one source said.

In the current scenario where the PPP and PTI have exchanged serious accusations, sources believe the ruling party ‘pulled the strings’. Reportedly, the PPP leadership was conveyed that the two dormant inquiries could be reopened in case the party refused to cooperate with the government on Panamagate.

“Behind the scene, the issue is settled. Anti-government statements coming from the PPP are only to balance the equation,” another source argued.

Prime Minister’s spokesman Musadik Malik did not respond to repeated calls and text messages from The Express Tribune for the government’s take on the issue.

On his part, Khursheed Shah called the pending inquiries as politically motivated. “I don’t even remember if these inquiries are pending. It’s just a politically influenced move, a blackmailing tool, or a bargaining chip to get political; mileage,” he told The Express Tribune.

Asked if this ‘bargaining chip’ was used to pressure the PPP into supporting the government on Panamagate or on PTI’s 2014 dharna, Shah said: “No. We have been facing such baseless inquiries from day one. Zardari Sahib [Asif Ali Zardari], Shaheed BB [Benazir Bhutto] and other party leaders and activists of the PPP have been implicated in false cases and inquiries.”

“If we start getting blackmailed by such tactics, where does our politics stand? If the government has any concrete evidence, it must bring it forth and take action. They are the government. They have the resources and means to do so.”

Prime Minister Adviser Amir Muqam was not said he aware of any pending inquiries. “If any such inquiry is pending, there must be solid ground. Without going through details, I cannot say anything. But I am sure there must be an explanation,” he told The Express Tribune.

PML-N chairman and leader of the house in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq said his party did not believe in the politics of blackmail. “We don’t believe in resorting to cheap tactics for political gain. If we did, the PPP would be standing by us. Instead of openly criticising our policies as an opposition party.”

Haq also said he was not aware of any pending inquiries. “The particular issue is not known to me but I can say that high-profile and sensitive inquiries need time. Legalities and related requirements have to be fulfilled, which is often a time-consuming process,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.