Pakistan needs a major clean-up
rif, now chief minister of Punjab, will not be able to maintain a soft stand or keep quiet on issues like his brother defiantly did. Shehbaz will only be a stop-gap arrangement for a few months as general elections are due next year and he would have to keep his family and the party intact amid a plethora of criminal cases that will open against all of them, including Shehbaz.
A family hounded by sleuths who are going all around the globe to find hidden treasures looted from Pakistan would have a very hard time projecting an image of innocence to the electorate or claim sympathy or political martyrdom. It will take a hit.
The rule of law unleashed with the unseating of the first family of politics, especially from elitist Punjab, will have to be extended to others, including the equally rich former president Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the corrupt elements in the civil and military establishment.
Pakistan is clamouring for across-theboard accountability and fortunately the judicial and the military establishments, at this particular time, also think a major clean-up operation has become inevitable — in fact it is a necessity for the nation to survive the grave strategic and economic challenges it is facing.
With politicians busy saving their money and skin, the momentous task of keeping Pakistan afloat, watching out and responding to the serious regional and international realignments fall to the lot of others.
The remote will become the main instrument of control.