Dr Aamir Khan
Have we not seen this before in the late 1960s or as late as during the restoration campaign of former Chief Justice Iftikhar, during which Aitzaz Ahsan expertly manoeuvred the former’s SUV through the roads and politics of Pakistan?
The fickleness of our intellectuals is so steadfast that it deserves a gold medal. When I was serving as a diplomat in China, my life was made miserable every time I returned to Pakistan by roughly every interlocutor I met who would castigate our Embassy for “sleeping” while the Chinese were awarding every other country contracts. Now that we have CPEC, the same armchair experts make references to the East India Company. We invite foreigners to strike a defiant note against terrorism, but when we find they are dark-skinned we accuse them of coming from “Africa”. Sigh!
The Supreme Court will decide as it thinks fit. Since everyone has an opinion, I will also give mine: Given the heavy politicisation of Panama and due to the fact that every second TV anchor and column writer is addressing the Supreme Court to do what he thinks should be done the best solution would be to declare this a mistrial.
Pakistan possesses everything it needs to become great. The problems it faces, corruption, lack of education and health facilities, slow economic progress, can be ultimately traced back to our constant shifting between alternate forms of governance. The media now thrives on this alternation as they need crises to earn a living. But the people of Pakistan need political stability and economic progress.
Here is my third hypothesis: Corruption will not go away by banning or damaging Nawaz Sharif. He is old and unwell and may actually welcome the idea. Corruption will go away only when our home has a long-term owner. Otherwise, we will keep mimicking the movie scene. Back to square one. Déjà vu all over again.
Concluded
