Article

2016-06-19 India-Pakistan

[DAWN] A PARLIAMENTARY committee tasked with drawing up the terms of reference for a judicial inquiry into the Panama Papers leaks is deadlocked with an increasingly frustrated opposition threatening to take its protest to the streets if the issue isn’t resolved soon -- and what do we get?

Well, we get the video of the imprisoned Dr Asim Hussain, bosom buddy and confidant of former president Asif Ali Zardari whose PPP is among the opposition parties now raising the possibility of resorting to street agitation.

In the leaked video, lapped up by TV channels and reported by all media, Dr Hussain is seen and heard telling his interrogators how corrupt the former president’s adoptive brother, Owais Muzaffar Tappi, is. Tappi, along with Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Feryal Talpur, was at one point seen as the de facto Sindh chief minister.

What is the revelatory angle in this whole episode? Anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the PPP’s working knows well that Tappi, up to his departure to foreign lands, and Ms Talpur, on an ongoing basis, are the ones who make all the crucial calls in Sindh with the soft-spoken Syed Qaim Ali Shah quietly serving as the rubber stamp.

Yes, Mr Zardari’s family members and friends are reputed to have their hand in every pie from postings and transfers to award of government contracts to land deals with dodgy developers or wherever a profit is to be made, and are never to be found far from the action.

The interesting aspect of this leak, notwithstanding questions regarding the legality and ethics of its release, is that it is being traced to Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan by the media. Mr Khan can forgive a million sins including the murder of the innocent by anyone with a religious agenda, no matter how odious, but hates non-religious forces with a passion.

Posted by Fred 2016-06-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Pakistan

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