Casting the first stone

Imran Khan was a flamboyant maverick in his hey days. Judging him now on the touchstone of moral turpitude is worse than a sin. The Islamabad High Court – serving a pre-admission notice on a petition against Imran Khan for not declaring/disclosing the existence of his daughter – is beyond an expression of reproval. Our societal norms and values do not allow such personal escapades to be dragged in public domain for gaining some political mileage against any adversary.

So it’s very strange that the corrupt to the core mafia in this country has been let off the hook with impunity yet again by our putrid judicial system and ever faltering establishment. The system is now bent upon edging out Imran Khan, a former prime minister, from politics in a bid to ignore the plundering as usual by the old guards.

I am not a fan or follower of Imran Khan but fully endorse his views on rampant corruption in the country which has inflicted the nation with irreversible economic meltdown – either we have defaulted or we are at the precipice of a free fall; and one wonders at the trivialities of our national character. The slanderous debate on tosha-khana has been deviously engineered to smear the popularity of Imran Khan. Selling off a watch or some other gifts may be an indiscreet act but it certainly proves that the seller is an honest person in fiduciary matters. Otherwise, Imran Khan had enough options to swindle the national exchequer as his predecessors had done time and again or could have easily pilfered the huge donations that his various charitable institutions receive on a regular basis.

Only a man of honesty and integrity would sell the royal gifts to meet his personal needs instead of squandering the government funds or misappropriating the donations for charity. The Opposition’s narrative of tainting Imran Khan with corruption will never change his image of an honest and upright fellow. His political philosophy and acumen will likewise remain embedded in a lot of controversies.

Imran Khan may recite this verse of Ghalib for feeling the instant lessening of his tribulation. Na-karda gunahon ki bhi hasrat ki mile dad; Ya rab agar in kerdah gunahon ki saza hai. I am quoting an English translation from a book entitled Whispers of the Angel (Nawa-e Sarosh) for those who are not very familiar with the vernacular: If punishment there needs must be for sins I did commit; Some compensation, O my Lord, for sinful longings unfulfilled.

The drycleaning factory in Pakistan is working twenty-four hours for cleansing the culprits through a judicial process and assigning them the best of places for steering out the strayed sinking ship from a ruthless sea of poverty and hyper-inflation. It is a mockery of justice and governance that the return of the Dragon and Dracula for a final feast on the nation’s flesh and blood is going on merrily. The bloodless nation is so enfeebled and slavish in temperament that come what may it will not rise from the grave of ignominy and slumber to put an end to the diabolic game once for all.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2022.

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