The only decent thing to do

The Supreme Court bench hearing the Panama Papers case has adjourned and reserved its judgment. The date for the final hearing is to be announced later. Legal submissions have been given by both sides, anybody who had anything to say did so via adhoc press conferences outside the court or on the nightly TV news programmes, documents were leaked right and left, there were accusations of conspiracy by people who would not know a real conspiracy if it reared in front of them and bit their arm, and a gaggle of lawyers are considerably richer than when the case commenced.

Although there is no final judgment there is sufficient evidence that is irrefutable and in the public domain to say with certainty that the prime minister, his sons and his daughter as well as sundry small players is shown to be, at least in this matter, evasive, circumlocutory and dishonest. They and their teams have forged evidential papers, in one case being tripped up by a font that was not in common use at the time the purported ‘genuine’ document’ was generated. Legal teams have been unable to establish to the satisfaction of either the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) or the bench that sat in the last week the money trail that led to the purchase of the flats in London that lie at the heart of the case. The fundamental question remains unanswered — how was the money generated and by who and where — to buy the properties in the first place?

Stripping aside the theatricals of the likes of Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) the party he leads and its various spokespersons, what is left is a picture of a family that is prepared to go to considerable length in terms of lies and subterfuges to protect or conceal the sources of its wealth. At no point in the proceedings can Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or his political and family associates (often one and the same) be said to have been transparent or forthcoming, indeed quite the opposite. Many of these people appear to be untouched by the ravages of intellect, and make statements that are by turns sycophantic and contradictory, seeking to be more loyal than the king. None emerge with grace or honour and all, especially those closest to the PM, are now irredeemably tainted. The yet-to-be-launched political career of the first daughter lies in tatters before it ever launched.

The unanswered questions generate their own questions and they are existential. Does the prime minister have the confidence of the country and just as importantly the confidence of other leaders that he deals with on the international stage? Can he be believed in any matter? Does he display a level of probity and accountability that is above that of the common man and appropriate to the highest offices of state?

There are other questions — too many — and the answer to all of the foregoing is a resounding ‘no.’ The prime minister is not a man fit for purpose and if he wishes to retain any semblance of honour that might be used at a future date then he should step down and leave the post of prime minister to be inherited by a man or woman less provably flawed in every respect than he is himself. This in itself may be no easy matter in terms of finding a successor, principally because there are few, if any, senior political figures (in any party it has to be said) who are palpably honest both in their public dealings and in the lives they lead outside the political bubble.

The Panama Papers affair came out of nowhere and has shone a light in Pakistan the likes of which has never shone before. A political dynasty and its head have been exposed as duplicitous and unworthy of respect or deference. Head for the exit, Mr Sharif, and go, go before you are pushed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2017.

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