Back on the boil

Politics is back on the boil after a week or two that saw other issues — though not entirely non-political — occupying centre stage. The special court verdict against Pervez Musharraf preceded by hooliganism by a section of lawyers at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology continued to dominate debates on the media and among the general people before the news of the arrest of PML-N’s central leader Ahsan Iqbal over corruption allegations reignited the war of words between the government and the opposition. The news coincided with the Prime Minister’s aide Babar Awan announcing that the federal government has decided to reject Maryam Nawaz’s plea to travel abroad for taking care of her ailing father, Nawaz Sharif. Just hours after Ahsan Iqbal’s arrest came an outright refusal by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to abide by what he calls an illegal and unconstitutional NAB call-up notice for December 24 in connection with the fake bank account and money laundering case.

Things looked like easing for the opposition when, about a month back, Nawaz Sharif was allowed out of the country for medical treatment along with brother Shehbaz Sharif as caretaker; and Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were granted bail earlier this month. The relief to both the PML-N and the PPP had been interpreted in the backdrop of the NAB chairman cautioning about a change in the wind direction. But the recent NAB actions involving Ahsan Iqbal and Bilwal Bhutto do suggest that winds continue to blow in the same direction. These actions may well be part of a strategy to add to the pressure on the opposition so as to let an important legislation sail through parliament. Whether or not this is the case, the new happenings are enough to set the political stage on fire and give rise to political acrimony — at a time when the need for political stability and harmony between the government and the opposition is ever so important. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2019.

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