The petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) leader, Haneef Abbasi, against the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI), Imran Khan, and party leader Jehanger Tareen, seems to be getting the best of PTI. The petition seeks the disqualification of the leaders based on the non-disclosure of assets, foreign funding, and ownership of offshore companies. While PTI has been taking the moral high ground since coming to the fore front in the elections of 2013, that moral high ground seems to be shaking as the mainstream parties in the system also started digging up dirt against them.

The Supreme Court’s (SC) hearings are starting to poke holes in the PTI’s money trail, and the party is having difficulty producing documents and evidence to substantiate transactions from a decade and a half ago – just as Nawaz Sharif struggled to substantiate his. The party’s lawyers are scrambling to comply with the court’s demands, but that feat seems increasingly difficult following each damaging hearing and the subsequent remarks by the judges.

PTI has been trying its best to not appear in accountability cases and ignoring the order of the courts along with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) – just like Nawaz and company – while also praising the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan for tightening its grip of accountability around the Sharif. If such is the demeanor of a party promising to rid the country of all the prevalent evils, then it is high time that they reflect on their own actions too.

PTI had been viciously flaying the ruling party every time the Supreme Court chided Nawaz’s lawyers for their patchy explanations. Now it must hide their own blushes when similar condemnations ring out against them from the apex court. Had the PML-N not been struggling with its own legal troubles, the PTI could have expected a unbridled barrage of criticism from the ruling party.

Now the interesting fact to observe here is whether or not the court will censure Imran Khan as strictly as Nawaz Sharif, if proven that his records are not clear. At the same time, will that mean an end for PTI’s politics? It should, considering how Imran Khan has hinged his political standing on the transparency of his records and the honesty of his person. Either way, this case means a lot of trouble for PTI unless it produces evidence fast.