How could such a tremendously influential political family make such a blunder?
KARACHI: Could a font topple the Pakistani leadership? One could never have seen this coming, but that certainly seems to be the case. In an exciting plot twist during a rather monotonous JIT investigation, the revelation came forward that Microsoft’s Calibri font was used in alleged forged documents in the Panama Papers investigation. The date of the public release of Microsoft’s Calibri font has become an unlikely factor in the alleged corruption scandal on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family. The documents Maryam Nawaz presented as proof were supposedly from 2006, a year before Calibri font was available for public use.
How could such a tremendously influential political family make such a blunder? It makes one realise the little reverence they have for Pakistan’s political institutions and the minimal trust in our judiciary’s ability. Perhaps, another arena that the Sharif family largely overlooks is public opinion. Although it has not been empirically measured, since the unveiling of this latest dimension to the scandal, the approval rating of the Sharifs has experienced a sharp dip. Sarcastic and sardonic comments and memes have wreaked havoc on their reputation. The culpability of the Sharif family has become a conversation starter at family gatherings, schools and workplaces.
The Calibri scandal, however, exposes another deeper layer to the Sharif psychology — they will do whatever it takes for the verdict to be not guilty. Along with Maryam, two more of Sharif’s four children, his sons Hasan and Hussein, were also involved in the Panama Papers scandal. Sharif’s PML-N party insists the wealth used to purchase the properties was acquired legally, through family businesses in Pakistan and the Gulf. But the JIT report, commissioned by the Supreme Court in April, said there was a “significant disparity” between the Sharifs’ income and lifestyle.
The Sharif family has consistently denied the allegations against it and rejected the JIT report, with allies denouncing it as “trash”. This repetitive denouncement, rather than confrontation and perhaps acceptance, speaks volumes about how the case is likely to proceed. Maryam’s forged document has exacerbated the issue, not unlike Donald Trump Jr’s unfolding links to Russia during the Trump campaign and his subsequent tweeting of the email correspondence on Wednesday July 12th. It is fair to say that the Sharifs, like the Trumps, are stuck in a deeper quagmire merely because the children of the families are not playing their cards wisely.
Rida Yousuf
Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2017.
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