We, the people of Pakistan, surely must be ashamed that this is not the first time such a defence has been presented and nor is PML-N the first party to so argue. One is compelled to be ashamed to realize that when in power all party leaders as well as military dictators have defined personal interests (political as well as financial) as national interest.
The country must be embarrassed that the third time elected Prime Minister and his immediate family - wife, daughter and two sons - are, due to sustained paucity of opportunities for education, are relying on the majority of Pakistanis being unable to conceptualize the significance of the Panama Papers as an outcome of hacking of the client list of Mossack Fonseca, the world's known fourth largest provider of offshore financial services.
We, as nation, should be mortified that the preferred defence by the First Family for amassing wealth beyond their means stashed outside the country is to maintain that it is their private wealth generated by hard work (with no supporting documents) and not sourced to corruption or abuse of office(s) held by Nawaz Sharif (as finance and chief minister Punjab and prime minister) while taking too many unsuccessful foreign trips at the taxpayers' expense to ostensibly lure foreign investment into the country.
One is ashamed that the First Family's inner coterie is threatening street violence if the Prime Minister is de-seated to divert attention from a defence that is neither backed by documents, nor witnesses and nor a credible narrative backed by ground realities - a narrative that maintains the economy is improving through development work; while clamping-down Section 144 barring congregations of more than 5 persons in the capital by the opposition.
The country must surely be saddened that politicians embroiled in legal cases credibly maintain that they alone are subjected to rigorous accountability while all other pressure groups remain exempt. This includes the judiciary, a recent much cited example is the tackling of the Arsalaan Iftekhar case, and the establishment, reference to the treatment meted to Musharraf.
It must be extremely disconcerting for Pakistanis that the heads of our institutions - State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, National Accountability Bureau, and Federal Board of Revenue - have repeatedly shown misplaced loyalty to the Chief Executive who appointed them and not to the sacred office they hold.
It is very troubling that our prime minister and cabinet members do not deem it appropriate to visit the site of terror attacks or indeed natural disasters (and when they do, it is stage managed with protocol the priority of those providing logistic support to the visit) and condemnatory statements coupled with placing a monetary value on loss of life and injuries is routine.
The country continued to be afflicted by the Prime Minister's samdhi and the country's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who, at best, is the trail blazer in being tortured to write a 43-page affidavit against the Prime Minister, as per his own claim, though no other politician precedes or has followed his example in spite of the fact that this country has been subjected to periodic molestation of individuals and institutions by military dictators; and, at worst, benefited financially and politically from this association.
One must surely be baffled by a Finance Minister who continues with his seriously flawed claim that chartered accountants or auditors, qualified in the United Kingdom, can make millions, in hundreds of thousands perhaps at the end of their career, quite unlike criminal or company lawyers with a track record of winning cases; though one must concede that after his association with Nawaz Sharif began he may have been awarded highly lucrative government contracts. Deloitte, a well known international accountancy firm, for example pays a director no more than 220,000 dollars per year and Price Water House Coopers (PWC) partner's salary is around 228,000 dollars though he/she is entitled to a share of the profits. But these are internationally well known established companies. Millions as and when paid to accountants/firms in the US and the UK raises concerns about money laundering in these countries by the country's relevant institutions.
The country must surely mourn that a bunch of cabinet members and part of Maryam Nawaz's infamous media team continue to lambaste all who dare to challenge their right to rule - people who could not have been taken into confidence with respect to the First Family's financial dealings/fortunes abroad, given that even Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar (retd) claimed he was unaware of his wife's wealth to the Joint Investigation Team.
We the nation must be ashamed that the defenders of the First Family are holding press conferences only in the Press Information Department (PID) - a highly controlled department whose very lights are run at the tax payer's expense instead of in the press club.
We Pakistanis must be ashamed that in our politics loyalty is tantamount to hurling vicious abuse at adversaries - a trend visible in all major political parties. We must be saddened for the Minister for Water and Power for being unable to comprehend that a man's extremely wealthy ex-wife may lend or gift hundreds of thousands of pounds with or without any prospect of a return.
Pakistanis must be embarrassed that the social media cells in all major political parties routinely attack, viciously and mercilessly, anyone who dares challenge their leader on any matter - from his personal life decisions to political decisions. The entire nation must be ashamed that there has been no action on the Model Town incident - an incident where the Punjab police killed 14 people of a rival political party and injured a 100.
One is surely ashamed of being a Muslim in Pakistan knowing that the staff of Utility Stores Corporation, managing across the country subsidized stores, routinely engage in sale of bulk consumer items to hotels and restaurants during times when the price differential from the open market is considerable and, to the best of my knowledge, there has been little if any accountability so far.
We Pakistanis must be ashamed of being Muslims in Pakistan when we see sellers in itwaar (Sunday) bazaars, with the price of goods clearly marked by government functionaries, allowing only those who pay inflated rates to choose from their special stash not available to others.
One must be ashamed of going to the sellers of fruits and vegetables in the market and the price charged the same day differing on the basis of the vehicle one is driving. We as Pakistanis must be ashamed of the Bahawalpur incident which has claimed over 200 lives when the oil spill from a tanker caught fire on 25 June this year and a subsequent incident where the people drained the oil into makeshift receptacles. We in settled areas of Pakistan are ashamed that Nawaz Sharif allowed Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai to indefinitely postpone his salutary Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) reforms that would have mainstreamed Fata people and compromised the Punjab government's special laws protecting the rights of women even though neither of these two men represent Fata or women. We as a nation have a lot to be ashamed for but there is one Pakistani that we must be proud of and that Pakistani lives outside the country because we are unable to provide her security: Malala Yousafzai who can get a hearing from any Western chief executive or head of an international agency or media group unlike our Prime Minister.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017