Setting the stage

The message is abundantly clear — do not play politics with the judiciary, and if politics is played then it may be expected that the judiciary is going to respond fast and firm. The cast has now been assembled for one of the largest productions to tread the political boards for many a-year — the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that is going to probe the Panama Papers affair. It is a time limited task, 60 days, with a fortnightly reporting schedule and the judiciary have been seen to make every effort to ensure that the members of the JIT are free of political taint and affiliation, and have weeded out some nominees that failed to meet their criteria.

The JIT has its own secretariat made up of staffers from the various entities it comprises and a budget to run the show. The Supreme Court has framed eight questions that it wants answers to, and the JIT is mandated to bring before it whomsoever it wishes to question and that includes the prime minister and his sons, neither of whom are resident in Pakistan. The PM is reported to be looking at engaging counsel, the chairman of the PTI Imran Khan has adopted a relatively restrained position and it is yet to be seen whether proceedings are to be in camera or open to public and media scrutiny.

The judiciary has already upbraided the media in no uncertain terms for the spreading of falsehoods and leaking the names of JIT nominees, thus it may be that they take the closed-door route.

The proof of the pudding is going to be in the eating. The Panama Papers affair has thus far failed to unseat the PM, but there is a ganglion of conflicting evidence relating to the money trail that led to the purchase by members of the PM family of several properties in London. Bringing transparency to anything Panama-related is going to require the most searching of forensic examination, and a ruthless application of the rule of law in the event of any finding of wrongdoing that is evidentially sufficiently sound to warrant a prosecution. How the JIT performs may redraw the political map of the nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2017.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.