The war of “references” between Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto has heated up. Mr Sharif has filed a dozen or so cases against Ms Bhutto before the Chief Accountability Commissioner and she has retaliated by launching a few against him. Is this “Noora Kushti”? Or will these charges and countercharges eventually lead to the conviction of either or both of them?
The first shot was fired by Mr Sharif in 1996 when he revealed sensational details of Surreygate. Although Ms Bhutto denied the charge on the floor of the House at the time, today she brazenly admits that Mr Asif Zardari may have bought the property “for some other woman”.
Four months ago, Mr Sharif splashed details of the foreign accounts of Mr Zardari in Switzerland, commissions received from Cotecna/SGS preinspection agency and kickbacks from ARY gold traders. The respected New York Times has now confirmed all this. It has also provided credible evidence of a deal between Mr Zardari and the French manufacturer of the Mirage aircraft for hefty kickbacks if and when the planes were ordered by the government of Pakistan. Indeed, the Washington correspondent of Pakistan’s leading daily newspaper, Dawn, has suggested that Ms Bhutto seemed more interested in persuading the US administration to return the money paid for the F-16s than in getting the planes (a charge confirmed by Ms Bhutto’s disgruntled foreign minister of that time, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali) — the implication being that Ms Bhutto wanted to buy the Mirages because she would have got a hefty commission in the deal. Although Mr Amer Lodhi, who is alleged to have brokered the potential Mirage deal, has denied these allegations, like Ms Bhutto he has not yet sued the New York Times. This has bolstered Mr Sharif’s contentions and driven the last nail in the coffin of the former first couple.
Ms Bhutto has now woken up to the harsh reality facing her and decided to hit back at Mr Sharif. She alleges that Mr Sharif is in cahoots with Mr Saeed Shaikh, a close friend in Washington, through whom he has fiddled the import of wheat shipments to Pakistan. She claims to have unearthed evidence of large amounts of unexplained money in a US-based company allegedly owned by the Sharifs. She has pointed out valuable properties held by the Sharifs in England. Mr Shahbaz Sharif is alleged to have negotiated hefty kickbacks on some defence contracts. And the Sharifs are accused of misusing their official position in government to unfairly reschedule billions of rupees worth of loans from public sector banks.
These are no mean charges against each other. As a matter of fact, there is sufficient evidence to convict both parties of gross misdemeanour and misuse of office in any credible court of law. But a travesty of justice is more than likely to follow.
If the cards are stacked against Ms Bhutto, Mr Sharif seems personally impregnable. He has amended the accountability law to make sure that a minion like Senator Saif ur Rahman can stop any number of cases from proceeding against him. He is also about to amend the constitution to make it impossible for him to be disqualified from office on any count. In the event, the courts are likely to find themselves in an embarrassing position when they begin the trial of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari. If the judges succumb to governmental pressure for one-sided accountability, they will do themselves and their institution irreparable political harm. If they don’t, they will have to stretch and bend the law in unimaginable ways to let Ms Bhutto off the hook, a precedent with far reaching, adverse legal implications. This has led many people to believe that a “Noora Kushti” of the highest order is in the offing.
This is a sad day for Pakistan. Our “honourable” judges, our “outspoken” journalists, our “respected” lawyers, our “enterprising” businessmen, our “feared” generals — every institutional pillar of state and society knows that the leaders of both mainstream parties are unimaginably corrupt, that they have bankrupted this country and brought it to the brink of ruination and despair. Yet, for a variety of vested interests, no one can do anything about it. Indeed, it seems that everyone is hoping that, somehow or the other, ordinary people will rise up and risk life and limb to overthrow this unjust and malignant disorder.
But that is not going to happen. Why should people try and overthrow one corrupt and inefficient government only to see it replaced by another corrupt and inefficient government? Indeed, what is more likely to happen is frightening. As evidence of venality, criminality and plunder at the very top piles up, as the political system increasingly becomes a personal fiefdom, people will begin to follow the example of their “leaders”. Armed “Qabza Groups” will proliferate. The law will disintegrate. Jehad, separatism, sectarianism and ethnic violence will become the order of the day. When, finally, the economy breaks down under this burden, there will be nothing left to save or reclaim in Pakistan. Will Allah intervene?