Business as usual

Younis Habib’s name was bound to echo in the Punjab Assembly on Friday. After the banker’s revelations, the opposition in Punjab Assembly took a swipe at the treasury.

Opposition leader Raja Riaz rose on a point of order and said that Habib had accused both the Sharif brothers of taking money from the ISI. The speaker panicked and turned off his mike. But the speaker did not just stop there, in his love for his party, he also expunged Riaz’s remarks. The opposition chanted slogans against this and walked out of the house.

The disclosures though significant hardly have any element of shock to them. The proverbial cat really has not gotten out of the bag.

This is a familiar tale told by many over 60 odd years. The only difference is that it is now part of the Supreme Court’s record. That electoral process has been manipulated ever since the military had a say in the country’s political affairs, from the time of governor general Ghulam Mohammad, is really not new news.

What is more interesting is the petitioner’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja explaining to the media that once the agencies take a candidate under their protection and promote them and then the ‘surrogate’ is on their beck and call. This system has trickled down to all walks of life.  All of this is done in the name of national interest.

Habib was involved in the election of 1990, but surely others have played the same role in other election. Is the money collected and used on all projects of national interest? And why just blame the ISI? What about IB and other agencies. The Supreme Court has its work cut out for it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.