Accountability — for all

Nawaz Sharif has flown abroad for medical treatment, but political point-scoring by the govt and PML-N continues

Nawaz Sharif has flown abroad for medical treatment, but political point-scoring by the government and the PML-N continues. Both sides are interpreting the LHC ruling of November 16 — whereby the three-time former PM, who is stuck in corruption cases in the country, has been granted permission to fly out — as a victory of their respective political narratives. PM Imran Khan, who leads the government, attempts to convince his followers that he has not budged from his election pledge of holding the corrupt to account and that the word from the court does ensure a return journey by Nawaz. The PML-N, on the other hand, is drumbeating the point that the relief to the party chief has come on merit and not under a deal or a plea-bargain whatsoever.

The PM, however, sounded visibly upset — angry, in fact — as he got back to business after his two-day retreat to Banigala that came in the immediate wake of the November 16 court ruling. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a section of the Hazara motorway on Monday, the PM could not help drag his oft-repeated “commitment” to the accountability process into his address. Scathingly, he dwelt much more on his political opponents than on the road project he inaugurated, and made it clear — in what can be construed as a reinvigorated message depicting his uncompromising self — that he “will not spare a single person who has plundered the nation’s wealth”.

There can be no question of why he should not. After all, he is the prime minister and is duty-bound to ensure accountability — for all. But when he insists he will not give an NRO-like deal to anybody, what he involuntarily conveys is that he is the all in all in the chain of the process of accountability, himself raising questions on the credibility of the whole exercise. Well, the opposition’s contention that many a man siding with the PM enjoys immunity from corruption probe is something that stands supplemented by the CJP calling the accountability process “lopsided” and “a part of political engineering”. The PM must falsify this impression through his actions — and not just words. He must ensure that the accountability under him is no political victimisation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2019.

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