Corrosive confrontation

In the aftermath of the Panama Papers case ruling, the country continues to be roiled by political tension and increased rancour between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which has undermined the state’s quest for stability and hindered its progress. Instead of the tension subsiding in recent weeks, internal conflicts seem to be growing within the country with a representative of one branch of government ready to square off with another branch. The latest war of recrimination — triggered in large measure by the PML-N itself — is shaping up to be an ugly clash between the ruling party and the judiciary.

With all sides saying with apparent sincerity that they were going to accept the verdict of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that was set up, they promptly set about reversing their positions once the verdict was in. The Sharif family collectively is seeking to challenge the verdict, and there is a looming confrontation between the speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, who is lodging a complaint against the most senior judge, Justice Lateef Khosa. Add to this the never-ending tussle between the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the attempts to regain former glories by the PPP and a picture emerges of a political pool that is profoundly disturbed. There are fault lines and frictions within the ruling party, and at least one senior member of the PML-N who now finds himself sidelined is not going to go quietly into enforced retirement and political irrelevance.

Prior to the Panama Papers leak there was a fragile status-quo politically. The PML-N seemed imperial, and was widely predicted to win the next general election. But the churn at the top of the party and the tensions within are eating away at the foundations. Going into battle with the judiciary may not be a vote winner either as there appears anecdotally to be popular support for the judges and their robust exposure of the iniquities of the power elite. As all this plays out front of stage, a new PM and a recycled cabinet are getting to grips with a country that was drifting in a sea sown with mines — any one of which may sink an entire dynasty.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2017.

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