The Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC) has finally initiated an inquiry into the Pandora Papers that came to light around two months ago. Names of around 700 Pakistani politicians, retired military officials, and businessmen appeared in the leaked documents. So far, only 50 people have been sent questionnaires regarding their assets. One wonders if the ‘favoured’ ones have already been cleared by the PMIC?
Truth be told, many people do not expect any tangible results from this inquiry and feel that it may prove to be mere eyewash for several reasons. First, the organisations that are to support the commission – like the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) – have both failed to deliver results in similar cases. Second, in the 2016 Panama Papers leak, no action was taken by the government against the 600 or so Pakistanis identified, once the former prime minister was disqualified from office. Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised inquiry into all these cases. Last, nothing concrete ever came out of inquiries regarding the irregularities committed by the Sugar industry and Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
Hussain Siddiqui
Islamabad
