The politics of corruption.

As a political activist, I could never imagine that one day political resistance would intermingle with corruption. In the Ayub era, the political 'dark ages', democratic minds challenged the autocratic rule. Courts came to the rescue of such freedom-loving individuals like Ghulam Jilani Khan, father of Asma Jahangir, Habib Jalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Safdar Siddiqui, C R Aslam, Wali Khan, Ajmal Khattak, Qayyum Khan, Tariq Ali Khan, Shaukat Hayat Khan, Sikandar Hayat Khan, Aftab Gul and Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, to name a few. Corruption was never an issue as they were clean individuals fighting for civil rights and democracy.

The 1970 free and fair elections knocked out corrupt politicians in both wings of the country. Ideology made serious headway. In East Pakistan, it was provincial autonomy and in the West social equality. Zia, the third dictator, brought back the contaminants into the system to extend his misrule. The 1985 partyless elections which were boycotted by the only national party of Pakistan, headed by Benazir Bhutto proved to be disastrous as all the rogues made their way into parliament. Since then, the political purity of the land of the pure has been lost, recovery from this pandemic has become an uphill task.

Drama unfurled at the Lahore High Court (LHC) on June 3,2020 when Shehbaz Sharif appeared from hiding to seek bail for corruption charges filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). It has nothing to do with politics, it is a case of assets beyond means. All Mr Sharif has to do is to provide sources of his income. If they do not tread on the political pathways of power, then he has nothing to be afraid of. Delays through expensive lawyers is only a short-term defence.

When it comes to white collar corruption unfortunately, the revered and widely practised common law fails, as there are no trails and witnesses. Al Capone avoided conviction in all the cases against him as both the witnesses and judges were gunned down. Finally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) got him on tax evasion. Once in prison, his powerful empire crumbled, he died after a few years in captivity. There was a sigh of relief in the city of Chicago. A similar sigh was seen in Karachi after the MQM clean-up. Now Lahore needs a similar cleansing operation to dismantle the infamous Takht-e-Lahore.

A recent picture of Nawaz Sharif is making the rounds on the social media these days. If leaked by party circles, it is indeed a very skilful act by...