It would be an understatement to say that Asif Ali Zardari is upset. As the supremo of the PPP, he might be next in the battle against political corruption that is raging in Karachi. In a statement from London, Zardari said bureaucrats in Sindh were being harassed by the Federal Investigation Agency and the National Accountability Bureau. He has clearly accused the PML-N of corruption and named Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif as money launderers. His point is that the focus on Karachi and the Sindh parties is unfair. The PML-N is embroiled in many of its own sketchy dealings- why no interest in the cleansing of the Punjab?
While we would very much like to see all these political cronies pay for alleged crimes, including those of the PPP, Zardari is right in a way. When will it be PML-N’s day of reckoning? Is there a pattern in all this? Is it all because the PML-N is on the good side of the security establishment for now? Or is everyone going to be picked off one by one, PML-N included?

Zardari left no holds barred. He even brought up the Model Town massacre and demanded that Justice Najafi’s report on the killings be made public, along with arrests of all those involved. And again, as much as we are skeptical of the PPP and Zardari, the PML-N has been allowed to gloss over its various blunders, and move forth unfettered.

Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid’s response was appropriate. He said that every case would be referred to the courts, and we would leave it to the independent judiciary of Pakistan to take appropriate measures. He said that all political parties, including the PPP, had agreed to an across-the-board operation in Karachi. So why the fuss?

Zardari’s thesis, that this is just politics of revenge, is probably true. However, now other parties are involved, including the rangers, and Zardari’s anti-army remarks are also not yet forgotten. If his party in under siege, what is he doing sitting in London since mid-July? He should be glad that he is sitting far away. In any case, nobody is going to accuse him of anything while he is away, or he won’t come back. Yet, if anyone can survive this purge, it is Asif Ali Zardari.