Of Fissures, Rumours, and Shifting Realities

Mark Tully, famed BBC correspondent of yesteryears, used to say, “Islamabad is a city of the dead.” That is no more the case, as now even the dead come to haunt, and especially those who foresee their political guillotine speak up out of exigency. The spotlight, of late, is on Khawaja Asif. He is not new to controversy, as he has been in the thick and thin for long, especially since the last two general elections that he himself claims to have won at the behest of the powers-that-be. Yet, he is a responsible person who is considered close to those who matter in the country’s realpolitik. His dropping of a bombshell wherein he said that a sizable chunk of bureaucracy is bidding adieu and has sought Portuguese citizenship was startling for many. But that was no revelation. Bureaucracy and the Who’s Who of this poverty-ridden republic have thrived on the national exchequer. Our custodians are accustomed to green pastures and feel safe abroad after assuring the traumatized nation that they are in safe hands!

The Panama and Dubai Leaks are just the tip of the icebergs, testifying to the siphoning of trillions from Pakistan. The Surrey Mansion, Avenfield Apartments, islands in Australia, resorts in Belgium, and now offshore properties in the southern Iberian Peninsula bought by ‘Babus’ are the new normal of our corrupt governance edifice. They are all squarely responsible for amassing more than $125 billion in foreign debt, as more than 55% of the population lives below the poverty line. It is a documented fact in the annals of parliament that more than 22,000 civil servants possess dual nationality, and an investigative OCCRP report hinted that more than 17,000 Pakistani nationals owned some 23,000 residential properties in Dubai.

The question, however, is why Khawaja spilled the beans. Was it tactical signalling to save his skin as one of his pen-pusher mandarins was caught red-handed in a scam in his hometown? Was the so-called resignation from Khawaja a tool to pressurize the mighty and the powerful, who did not even bother to respond? Or was it intended to create a hullabaloo as political winds have started blowing the other way? So much so that a ‘mighty’ personality on a TV talk show divulged that ‘dropping platelets’ of someone who sought self-exile were doctored from a mammal’s blood! Though there are no specific answers as to why this diatribe now, the devil is in the details that no one wants to flag at this time of berserk political nervousness. The defiant pouring out of PTI supporters on the streets, sans leadership, is also giving second thoughts to those who matter that the script is going wayward.