There is no end to my amazement at the brazenfaced simplicity (dignity stops me from using a more appropriate adjective) with which the former Prime Minister continues to profess his innocence amidst applause by his courtiers. The gentleman is under the delusion that he is another Erdogan and we are living in Turkey. He may even be nursing a notion that perhaps one day soon, he may return to his former throne and his malady appears to have infected his family, his ex-ministers and his supporters.

Whenever these afflicted individuals take the rostrum to speak, they go into a frenzy of producing nothing except arguments and accusations that defy common sense. Their words may sound good to themselves, but they have overtime become counterproductive to their party and someone from within (perhaps Chaudhry Nisar) should have the gumption to tell them that it is time they put an end to these tirades. One is now sick of hearing that so and so is the darling of 20 crore people (which by implication means Pakistan’s entire population) – I’ll be darned if any politician in this country has ever held this unique popularity level, except our founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

I had always maintained that Mr Shehbaz Sharif was politically more sagacious than his brother and could have delivered better in the national leadership role. His misfortune, lay in the fact that he played politics under the shadow of his older sibling and is now being pushed into the fight at a desperately wrong time, when he may himself be called to account in follow-up actions, based on the historic Supreme Court decision. His nomination as the new ‘permanent’ Prime Minister involves resigning from his Punjab Assembly seat, contesting a National Assembly seat and then getting elected through voting on the floor of the House to assume responsibilities as its leader. Considering the fact that the younger Sharif may become an accused in one of the references being filed by NAB, the process of moving into the PM House may suffer a setback, leaving him ‘neither here nor there’. There are already murmurings amongst circles close to the Punjab CM that his move to the centre may not be a wise step.

There is also concern amongst people on the filing of references and their follow up. Public concern stems from the fact that the head of NAB was tested and found wanting and the only effective method to restore credibility would be to bring about a top-down change in the institution to avoid dilution in the accountability process, now set in motion by the Apex Court. This process must now gain impetus and net each and every corrupt public figure – past and present. Punishments as a result of these trials must provide deterrence so as to prevent characterless individuals from running for and assumption of public office.

And now something about the ‘so called’ interim arrangement for which an oath taking ceremony was held yesterday after the PML-N candidate was elected by the Parliament with a whopping majority. It was in indecent haste that our newly sworn-in Head of Executive rushed to Murree to consult and seek guidance from Mr Nawaz Sharif. This raises the question whether such a session is in violation of the Supreme Court Judgement or even the constitution, since Mr Sharif has been disqualified on grounds of violating public trust and as a corollary ceases to be the head of his party?

I have always maintained that the single remedy that will turn things around in Pakistan is ruthless ‘enforcement of the law’. We are fortunate to have armed forces with the capacity to keep our internal and external borders secure. We now have an apex judiciary, which has proved its courage and legal wisdom to break the myth that ‘no one could challenge the mighty and powerful’ in the land. With these two institutions on the same page, we have nothing to fear.

The writer is a freelance columnist.