Playing hardball

Prior to the formation of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which is investigating the offshore financial assets of the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, there was considerable scepticism expressed as to its independence. That scepticism is fading, and the JIT is showing a spirited independence from political pressure. Alongside this is a robust, indeed pugnacious, Supreme Court that has given short shrift to a plea filed by Hussain Nawaz, the son of the PM, who cast doubt upon the impartiality of two members of the JIT, claiming they had ‘political affiliations’ that compromised their positions. The SC was having none of this, saying that if people were to be removed on the grounds of ‘mere suspicion’ then the assistance of angels would be needed to investigate matters associated with the Panama Papers affair.

Whilst on the one hand advocating scrupulous fairness on the part of those investigating the Panama Papers, there is a need for an almost forensic dissection of the tangled mass of so-called evidence that was presented in the course of the original hearings that gave rise to the JIT. It would be clear to a blind man in a darkened room that there was a thicket of untruths, half-truths and downright lies being bandied about in various attempts to conceal and obfuscate attempts to get to the heart of the matter.

Powerful vested interests, indeed the ruling family of the land, are seeking to protect their financial affairs from objective scrutiny. They are not above the law, and the standard of accountability, the bar, has to be set higher because of the nature of the positions they hold. If they expected less, that they get a free passage by virtue of their power alone, then they are being sorely disappointed. The JIT must be implacable in the way it conducts its business and if that involves hard questions to people unused to answering for anything then we have no sympathy. Continue, gentlemen.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2017.

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