The PPP’s turn?

Nawaz Sharif is behind bars and a similar fate looms for Asif Ali Zardari. A joint investigation team (JIT) report — which has been presented before the Supreme Court in connection with the fake bank accounts case — claims that a whopping Rs 42 billion were laundered through 29 fake bank accounts, under a nexus of politicians, bankers and businessmen. More than a dozen bankers and businessmen are accused in the case, and what — according to the JIT report — drags Zardari into the loop is that the same bank accounts were used to pay the expenses of the Bhutto family’s residences in Karachi and Lahore, commonly referred to as Bilawal House. The report also claims misdeclaration of assets by Zardari in his nomination papers submitted in connection with the 2018 general elections. If the report is proven true, Zardari may be disqualified for life as lawmaker under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.

The JIT findings are not just a bad news for Zardari, but his sister Faryal Talpur and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah as well. The findings only carry a mention of Bilawal Bhutto, the scion of the Bhutto family who offers only hope for the PPP’s revival, having had a lunch from the money coming out of one of the accounts of a businessman forming part of the money-laundering loop. The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar himself, which is dealing with the case, has been asked by the JIT to order the filing of no less than 16 corruption references with the accountability courts.

So the JIT report heralds a troubling time for the PPP’s top tier leadership. The situation raises pertinent questions not just about the future of the PPP, but also the political scenario that would emerge in the country in case Zardari is arrested. There is a likelihood of the PPP joining forces with the PML-N, which has been passing through the same testing times. While there is a big question mark on the current ability of the two parties to put up a street show, together they can make life difficult for the PTI inside parliament — something that does not auger well for the process of democracy in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2018.

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