In parliament

That the opposition showed up in parliament on Monday not without its promised 70 questions shows a belated realisation that practising politics through temper tantrums is not going to achieve anything. With the path forward available it would have been terrible for the opposition to decide against it. The terms of reference for a commission to investigate the Panama leaks and other similar revelations, and the relevant legislation, can now be debated between the government and the opposition. An agreement has been reached to form a 12-member parliamentary committee to agree on joint ToRs. It does not seem likely now that ToRs for an enquiry can convincingly be limited to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. If there is going to be accountability, it will now have to apply to those named in the Panama leaks and other revelations following it. In his speech on the floor of the House, Khawaja Asif also noted that all the focus had been shifted towards politicians, and the businessmen and bureaucrats named were being let off the hook. This had to be inevitable given the kind of politics that only saw in the leaks a divine opportunity to bring the government down. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, himself, for the first time since the affair sparked off, seemed to imply the need for new mechanisms and laws for dealing with corruption, tax avoidance and offshore companies when he mentioned David Cameron in his speech. We hope this shows that Imran has accepted that the judicial commission cannot go after one person alone. For too long, political parties have tolerated corruption, and promoted the corrupt, within their own ranks while showing opportunistic outrage against their opponents.

Imran Khan pointed to the practice of pointing fingers at each other with accusations of corruption freely made. We agree. When false accusations and abuses are hurled against judges, the media and other institutions and individuals, the problems multiply. These accusations and abuses come back to haunt one’s own self later in the day. This is especially true when such charges are made out of blind ambition and not with good intent. When it comes to an agreement to talk, many things can be determined. Some possibilities were opened up with the suggestion that all the political parties come together and form an ‘ehtesab body’. Whether it is a new body or an old one, an improvement in our ehtesab culture can happen only if the government and opposition parties are serious about across-the-board accountability. Anti-corruption bodies in this country, from the PML-N’s own Ehtesab Bureau to the NAB of Pervez Musharraf, have a long and sordid history of targeting only their opponents. When politicians are so preoccupied with trying to bring each other down, all they accomplish is a weakening of the democratic system itself. Now they need to be more constructive and start negotiations over the terms of reference. As we said in our previous editorial on the issue, who does what on this fundamental question will reveal the true nature of their politics and aims.