Imran Khan is in a fix. The Prime Minister and PTI Chairman had promised action against all involved in the sugar crisis, and now he knows who they are. Top of the list is one of his closest advisers and his party’s most notable donor. Next up is the family that helped him break the PML-N’s dominance in Punjab by splitting seats in the Seraiki belt. The third is the family that helped him cobble together a government in Punjab. Fourth and fifth are relatives of the Sharifs and associates of Asif Zardari, respectively.
To his credit, the PM himself ordered that the report be made public. While opposition members may say it is because alleged profiteers come from all the big parties, Imran gains nothing by showing people that the Sharifs or Zardari may have profited off the crisis. True or false, his supporters already believe this and their supporters refuse to. But now, with possible proof of profiteering by those around him, his own Mr Clean image suffers.
Even when Jehangir Tareen was disqualified from politics for dishonesty, PTI supporters tried to defend him, and Imran still kept him close. So close, in fact, that there have long been questions on Tareen’s participation in policy-level meetings in Islamabad and Lahore on agriculture and other issues that may enrich him. Why was a man, declared dishonest by the highest court in the land, now helping make national policies? We might finally have an answer.
Unless there is a greater game at play, proximity to Tareen is now going to keep embarrassing Imran and his government. The same goes for Khusro Bakhtiar, the food security minister who was profiting off the country becoming less food secure on his watch. Both, and even Moonis Elahi of the PML-Q, have put up weak defences. Tareen claims he also profited from similar subsidies during the PML-N era. So basically he admitted that profiteering is nothing new for him, whoever is in power. Bakhtiar and Moonis tried to distance themselves by claiming that they kept away from policy-level discussions or from business concerns of the mills, but they still pocketed the money. Cleanly, no doubt.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2020.
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