Samson Agonistes…or Nooras in agony

Islamabad diary

For once Imran Khan – whom no one will accuse of being much of a wordsmith – has coined a happy phrase. Panama Leaks, he says, is Almighty’s suo motu and the Nooras are stuck in it. This is putting it aptly for no one amongst Pakistan’s teeming millions has invented Panama Leaks. It has come as a bolt from the blue.

Saifur Rehman, NAB chief in Nawaz Sharif’s second prime ministership, helped dig out the Swiss material against Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto. There is no Saifur Rehman behind this bombshell. It has come out of the blue – suo motu from the skies.

The basic facts are admitted, indeed there is no running away from them: the offshore accounts, the millions parked there and the properties in London…Park Lane threatening to become a household name in Pakistan. All that the PML-N’s brass band can muster is a pathetic defence exciting only more laughter. I never thought I’d feel this way but my heart goes out to Pervaiz Rashid and Daniyal Aziz (where on earth is Talal Chaudry?). To try so hard and be laughed at for your pains is a tough call. Lesser champions would have crumbled but they soldier on.

Verily, whom the gods would destroy they first make ridiculous. Not so much Panama Leaks as the response to them is making the Sharifs look ridiculous. Meanwhile, Pervaiz Rashid is coming close to being looked upon as a circus performer.

And Imran Khan, scenting blood, and calling for NS to step down, is threatening to invade  Raiwind Palace. The dharnas had exhausted Khan and his party. This gift from the skies has put fresh life in him.

Critics, and he has more than his share, may laugh at him but he has guts and determination and these in a crisis count for more than anything else. About the PPP, however, I have my doubts. It is making the right noises but with the corruption-ridden record of its own leadership I cannot imagine the party having its heart, its true heart, in the struggle to call the Sharifs to account. It cuts too close to the bone.

What a fate for Bhutto’s party. One of the biggest battles in Pakistan’s history shaping up and the PPP – which still has plenty of good men in it – is unable to think and act straight, all because of the compromising ways of its leadership. As for Bilawal, poor lad, he is all sound and fury and not amounting to anything much, playing a role for which he seems not to be too well suited.

Ah and where’s that cleric of a dozen faces, the one and only Allama Tahirul Qadri? Imran Khan, more resilient, has recovered from the mixed bag of the dharnas but the Allama to all appearances has not…which is why he has virtually disappeared from the national scene. His health is also telling against him.

Whatever his own politics and his zig-zag ways, there is no denying the steadfastness of his battle-scarred cadres who stood their ground even during the Model Town shootings and who subsequently, during the dharnas, on more than one occasion put to ignominious flight the doughty battalions of the Punjab Police. Do these cadres envision a role for themselves in this crisis?

This is not a slow-moving action sequence. Things are happening fast and racing to a conclusion. It’s hardly a fortnight since the breaking of this storm and the ruling party already seems bereft of ideas. My fear is that if Imran Khan carries out his threat to march on Raiwind who will stop him? Punjab Police? We know its mettle and its reserves of courage. Or will they rely on the newly-created Dolphin Force?

My friend Ataul Haq Qasmi, PTV chairman and counsellor of sorts to the Sharifs, is already drawing comparisons between the movement against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and the gathering turmoil against the Sharifs. In his latest Jang column he writes that rightwing enthusiasts like him failed to read the real meaning of the CIA-sponsored plot against Bhutto then and Sharif critics are similarly failing to read the international dimensions of the present plot against the Sharifs.

Detecting Bhutto’s likeness in Nawaz Sharif may be a laughable proposition but the mere fact that a Sharif partisan is already thinking in terms of 1977 underlines the gravity of the challenge confronting the Sharifs.

The Sharifs had an inkling of what was coming. That is why some weeks ago Hussain Nawaz gave an interview to a friendly journalist during which, for no apparent reason, he disclosed that he and his brother were beneficial owners of offshore companies. Many of us wondered what had prompted this disclosure. Now we know…he was trying to stave off the storm. It was a clever move but it hasn’t worked.

The international dimension of this bombshell is what is proving so unsettling for our heroes. If the Icelandic PM goes, the head of an Austrian bank steps down, David Cameron feels beleaguered, it’s difficult for the Sharifs to escape the fallout.

If the accusations were only from within Pakistan they would have brushed them aside with utter contempt, as they have done countless times over the last 30 years. But this is different. When David Cameron, to name him alone, has to answer relatively minor and inconsequential charges, how can they escape scrutiny over their unexplained millions and their portfolio of super-expensive London properties? When the London properties were bought way back in the 1990s the two brothers were minors. Their ownership of the offshore companies came much later. So where did the money for the flats come from? Only a forensic audit can reveal the money trail.

So the questions thrown up by Panama Leaks relate to money laundering, tax evasion and non-declaration of assets, each charge enough to lead to serious consequences.

Throughout I have named the Sharifs in the plural which normally would be taken to mean PM and talented brother. But conspicuous in this entire affair is the silence, studied or otherwise, of Shahbaz Sharif and his sons, Hamza and Salman, the one prominent in Punjab affairs, the other in high-flying business. They have been mum on this subject since the revelations broke. Just fortuitous or is there more to it than meets the eye? The Khadim-e-Aala is said to nurse his own PM ambitions. But this is just guesswork. Let’s not be carried away by it.

What is certain is that this is not going away. Answers will have to be provided and if they are deemed to be inadequate, not measuring up to the gravity of the charges springing out of Panama Leaks, the calls for accountability, and for even heads to roll, will grow louder.

The idea of a toothless commission headed by a retired judge announced by Nawaz Sharif in his speech has already fallen flat because all political parties have rejected it and the judges approached have proffered their apologies, no one much willing to be part of such an eyewash.

So what’s the way forward? The circumstances call for honesty but try telling that to the PML-N. So the party, especially its brass bands, are falling back on bluster and hoping for the best. The crisis thus lingers and we are in for an interesting summer.

Email: bhagwal63@gmail.com