Boy its been a long journey, from the flower pot of General Zia/Gilani, to this day in front of the JIT, a long thirty fruitful years of loot and plunder finally being questioned, or is it just an eye wash. Lets begin with the court order against Nawaz Sharif. From being called a Godfather in the first ruling, he was told to present himself before a JIT to substantiate his assets and their acquisition through legal means, Nawaz Sharif had lied or misled the nation on three different occasions through speeches and was called a Liar and concealer of facts by the judges, now comes the day that he has to verify those ‘these are all the records of our property’ to the JIT.

Let’s see what the records tell us so far. Nawaz and the House of Sharif have become probably the richest family of Pakistan without having any legitimate business on display. They have been miserly in declaring any meaningful tax returns, yet are reported to be worth over a few billion dollars, some say the figure is around $20 Billion. All this but no paperwork, tax returns or verifiable source of income to back up, thus having no proof of income. Therefore the two Judges out of five declared Nawaz a liar and unfit to be a member of the assembly, while three judges said that we need to probe further through a JIT before giving our final verdict. The 60 deadline shall expire within the next 20 odd days and we all shall know the fate of this most corrupt and uncouth House of Crime.

While the JIT has had various visits from the two erstwhile sons of Nawaz Sharif and a few others of dubious fame, yet the mail culprit, accused number 1, Nawaz Sharif is to have his day in the court on Thursday. The question that needs to be answered by him is, where did he get this wealth to buy the multi-million pound flats in London, contrary to his three speeches, all with various versions of how and from where did he got the funds for the purchase, including the Qatari Letter, claiming all done through a ‘hear say’ of events by a Prince. The court had thrown out that letter as being trash, if not backed by the actual appearance of the Prince to verify the contents. Even then, the claim of this suspicious trail should be unacceptable, as it is so full of holes. If Nawaz Sharif was to present some new evidence, that would mean that he had lied to the court earlier, meaning that he is not a truthful person, again not meeting the bench marks of an honest person holding a public office. So by all standards of justice and law, Nawaz has no defence nor any proof of his wealth, barring fictitious paperwork. All this should add up to his permanent disbarment from holding a public office and punishment for acquiring wealth through illegal means. But will that come to pass?

Theories and rumours have been doing the rounds that, a) their goose is cooked as no evidence has been presented to justify the means, b) that all of this with the JIT is nothing but drama to hoodwink this nation once again as the Godfather is untouchable. Reports that a huge smokescreen has been unleashed by the JIT, and the rhetoric that the House of Sharif is being made a victim and that unfair means are being applied to cast him as a villain, shall in the end be declared ‘not guilty’ despite vigorous scrutiny. That having presented his whole family for accountability of the JIT, they have been given a clean chit to continue to rule of loot and plunder. One may ask why this despondency? Lets be reminded that Nawaz Sharif has been backed by the establishment of Pakistan and the nursery where he was bred, the Pakistan Army, for over thirty years and that despite the image being built, he remains ‘their’ man. Why so you may ask? Because Nawaz continues to bribe his way through all corners every time and thus keeps his backers happy.

The issue of Dawn Leak is just one recent example of how clever and cunning Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother are at manipulating matters to get themselves exonerated from all charges. I had stated so in one of my earlier articles that the visit of Jindal was a precursor to the Dawn Leaks issue being thrown in the dustbin by the Chief of the Army Staff, by his withdrawal of the famous ‘tweet’. No reason has been given so far, that why everything was suddenly hunky dory on an issue which was deemed to be a unforgivable breach of national security, thus the assumption that the COAS has been compromised with the help of Jindal’s damaging evidence. Be that as it may, how can one expect that the COAS will not influence the JIT and Supreme Court to absolve the House of Sharif from all charges? Is it not true that Nawaz is taking the COAS to Saudi Arabia in the garb of helping to resolve the Qatari boycott, whereas the actual reason is that he wants the COAS to ‘pledge complete loyalty’ to him just as Trump asked of FBI Director Comey in the United States? Time will tell what the truth is, but questions, there are a million out there that remain unanswered, including how and why Maryam Nawaz was spared, even though it was probably her who had made the crucial calls of endorsement to the newspaper journalist on the authenticity of the story. Will the COAS dare tell the truth to the nation?

One thing that needs to be understood by all and sundry that if by any trickery the JIT and the SC Bench exonerates Nawaz Sharif and Co., there shall be turmoil in the country the likes of which will crumble the very foundations of this country. The people of Pakistan have already given their verdict and any decision other than their absolute conviction shall be met on the streets of Pakistan with unfathomable agitation. The JIT, the Supreme Court and the Army brass, all are under the watchful eye of a nation which has been looted for over three decades. Imran Khan has already warned to be ready for a street Tsunami of unimaginable proportions if a ‘muk muka’ decision comes. It is up to those who matter to wake up to the reality that the time for games is over, the nation expects absolute truth and conviction of Nawaz, anything short of this will be the final nail in the patience of the population.

Nawaz’s appearance at the JIT should be his ‘Final Curtain Call’. Thirty years of fabrication of truths, of lies, of loot and plunder, of subjugation through police of their opponents, of utter failure of running a decent economic house, of a generation-and-half lost in the wilderness of misgoverning and lost opportunities, of a disastrous and unacceptable health care system, of a non-existent school system, of complete nothingness, and on and on. Enough already.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

kdmmmr@gmail.com