The Panama Papers have taken Pakistani politics by storm, turning Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif into a beleaguered figure after revelations that his daughter and two sons had offshore companies listed in their names.
The unprecedented reaction of the Opposition parties, especially by cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan , the arch rival of the Prime Minister in Punjab, the province with the biggest number of parliamentary seats, has led to the cancellation of Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Turkey.
Instead and quite intriguingly, Sharif will now head to London for a weeklong visit. Like several other politicians, Sharif has faced corruption charges in the past.
Another indication of nervousness in the ruling PML (N) Party came Tuesday when Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a Sharif loyalist, also shelved plan to visit Washington for parleys with the World Bank and IMF leaders on the country’s future partnership with the financial institutions.
On the other end of the political equilibrium, Imran Khan, a former cricket icon and leader of the third largest part in the Parliament, has postponed the intra-party elections of his Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) Party to dedicate more to the efforts to dislodge Prime Minister Sharif, who came to power with victory in 2013 general elections – which faced lingering questions over voting irregularities.
Known for his solo flights over the five years, Imran Khan has now decided to mend fences with other political parties especially Pakistan People’s Party led by former President Asif Ali Zardari – a political figure that has long been dogged by corruption scandals.
So, new battle lines have been drawn on Pakistan’s political landscape. Although, there is a national consensus among majority of segments of the Pakistani civil society that democracy is the way forward, the current situation appears to be a slippery slope.
The country’s powerful army and the Sharif government have been at odds over several issues. Last week, their differences over a counterterrorism operation in Punjab – ruled by Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif – were apparent as the government showed its reservations over any actions that might backfire politically.
In view of Pakistan’s long history of army takeovers and Sharif’s own battles with the military rulers – including Gen Pervez Musharraf who appears to have escaped justice and corruption questions – some analysts fear a suspension in the democratic process. Others say that situation may not arise if the PML (N) government finds a democratic solution to the scandal like resignation of the PM and an in-house change with election of a new leader within the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the discussions on Panama Papers on Pakistan’s historically anti-government TV channels are just stoking the controversy, scuttling all the windows for any rapprochement among the estranged political parties.
In other words, revelations about the off-shore companies have lent a new lease of life to Imran Khan’s desire to clinch the slot of Prime Minister. The Khan is also popular for his cancer hospital projects, which offer free of cost treatment to the deserving patients in a country, where only the rich and the powerful have access to top health facilities.
The leader of right leaning Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf has been aiming to send Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s government out of power since it came to power in May 2013. His tactics to oust the elected leade , who also has a large vote bank in the right-favoring political circles in Punjab, have drawn sharp criticism as well support from opponents of Sharif. Khan has also been accused of playing at the behest of the military establishment.
Soon after the elections about three years ago, Imran Khan had rejected the results, alleging that the elections were engineered to bring Nawaz Sharif to power. After holding a number of public meetings in Lahore, Islamabad and other parts of the country, Imran Khan alongwith Canada-based Pakistani cleric, Tahirul Qadri marched on Islamabad in August 2014 and kept the parliament and other important buildings besieged for more than four months.
It was December 16, 2014 carnage carried out by the foreign terrorists linked to the Pakistani Taliban at Army Public School Peshawar that resulted in an end to the 126-day sit in.
Now, he leaks of over 10 million papers of Panama-based legal consultancy firm has revealed that some 143 politicians including Presidents or Prime Ministers of 12 countries are involved in investing their ill-gotten wealth in the companies set up in other foreign countries especially in the states where taxes are at the lowest.
The list of 200 Pakistanis found in the Panama papers includes former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former Interior Minister Rehman Malik and a number of industrialists. But the major target of wrath of opposition and the civil society are Nawaz Sharif and his children. To defuse the situation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation last week to explain his position. However, Imran Khan , made an address to Pakistani through private media channels , accusing Prime Minister and his family of plundering national wealth and demanded a Supreme Court enquiry into what he called the biggest fraud in Pakistan’s history.
Prime Minister Sharif’s plan to travel to London this week has led to a number of conspiracy theories as Imran Khan and Asif Ali Zardari are also expected to be in the British capital during this period.
Interestingly, London is also in the grip of Panama Papers repercussions as Prime Minister David Cameron faces a tough backlash over his deceased father’s ownership of an offshore company.
The questions facing the Pakistani politics are much more serious, as the country must combat extremism and terrorism after gains made during last two years’ operations, and make rapid economic development to ease socio-economic troubles of the common man.
On top of the heap of speculations is the fate of PM Sharif. Will Nawaz Sharif be able to wriggle out of the political crisis this time too the way he did in the past? Will leaders of three largest political parties – gathering in London at the same time – agree to sort out the situation in a democratic way within the Parliament or will protests outside the Parliament decide the situation?
