The other day Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while talking to the media during his recent trip to Tarkemanistan, said that he had not won the confidence of the voters of Pakistan to step aside and resign because of the furor generated by the opposition on corruption charges, and that he was determined to carry forward the mission of national progress and the country’s development, that he had undertaken.
Of course he is right. He is innocent till he is determined the otherwise, by the Supreme Court. But those critics will also be right who counter-argue that the voters had not elected him to power inorder to facilitate the astronomical rise in the fortunes of his family, and that it was his moral responsibility to prove that he had not betrayed the trust of his voters, and the rise in his family’s fortunes had been triggered not due to his authority as the country’s Chief Executive, but due to the generosity and magnanimity of his Arab friends and well-wishers.
As long as the Prime Minister hangs on to power without earning honourable exoneration, and as long as he keeps using the state machinery to defend him before his voters, Mian Nawaz Sharif will be on a weak wicket, and miles away from high moral ground.
The main argument of those of the state functionaries who have undertaken the task of defending him is: “The PPP leaders also had indulged in massive corruption, and Imran Khan also should justify the ownership of his Bani Gala residence as well as of the Offshore Company he once owned”.
This is a silly defense.
The question before the Judiciary and the People is: Should a person who has concealed his ill-gotten wealth, and lied to the Nation be allowed to stay as the Country’s Chief Executive?