IT was a scene straight out of an Amitabh Bachchan film when the ‘police’ (NAB in this case) arrived too late to catch Shahbaz Sharif at his residence. The wanted man had already left. It could be said of both Bachchan and Sharif that ‘in ko pakarna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai’ (it is not just difficult to catch them, it is impossible)!

All the NAB team achieved was providing considerable fodder to the ever-hungry news channels because by the time there were reports that the team had left Model Town for Raiwind, everyone knew that Shahbaz Sharif would now remain MIA till the next morning’s hearing at the Lahore High Court. No one really thought the high-octane ‘chase’ was meant to yield any result. When it is serious about an arrest, the organisation goes where the man is — remember how it arrested Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as he was driving to Lahore — and doesn’t bother raiding places of residence in the hope that the man would be at home having a cuppa.

And this is not a particularly sceptical view of the matter. Most, if not all, are convinced that for more than one reason Shahbaz Sharif, and most other Noonies, have now done their ‘time’ and are not going to be returning behind bars soon.

The cases will continue, old as well as new. They will continue to be investigated and the sword of another arrest will continue to dangle over them all but it will not fall (easily). And the reason for this, or one at least, is that the party has fallen in line. The sher may not have been tamed completely but it has retreated wounded and that is enough. Because even as it licks its wounds, its existence provides some pressure on the PTI the way Imran Khan’s roars earlier were a constant headache for the PML-N government.

If the point is to keep them looking over their shoulders, it’s a job well done.

And this is why there is less of a brouhaha over the investigations into the PPP — there is no reason to believe that the PPP needs any taming. The process is already complete and there is little fear of any ‘misbehaviour’.

And this is what accountability is about in Pakistan — nothing more than a means for political ends. It is not even to brand the bad old politicians as corrupt. For if it was simply a campaign to tarnish them, then it would make sense to pick one case which is easy to understand and hammer in the misdoing. Think Surrey Palace. To launch investigations into a multitude of complicated cases just proves counterproductive — a complicated LNG case which is barely understood by those doing hour-long programmes on it, followed by allegations of illegal appointments, followed by some misuse of government cars. Or in the case of Sharif junior, Saaf Pani and Ashiana followed by assets beyond means. There are so many allegations that there is a fear that none will stick in the public perception. But then, that is not the point. However, if the point is to keep them looking over their shoulders, it’s a job well done.

And that is why our accountability cases are not tight, well-written film plots but endless soap operas.

Remember the Panama case? The entire saga began with the publishing of the Panama Papers in April 2016; by November 2016, the hearings began in the Supreme Court. The new bench was formed in January next year. The first verdict came a year after the Panama Papers were published in April 2017. By May, the JIT was formed and it presented its report in court in July. In the last week of the same month, Nawaz Sharif was dismissed and his government wrapped up. A short year and some months and the first season was over.

And then began the endless plot twists — three years later, the JIT, the apartments, the money trail, the time we all wasted every evening discussing the merits and demerits of prosecution, defence and receipts, everything lies forgotten. The main accused is in London and everyone is as sure of his return (after medical treatment) as we were last week of Sharif junior’s arrest.

Nothing has changed since the 1990s except perhaps the period in which NAB was really active and feared was far shorter this time around. Its reign of terror under the second Nawaz Sharif government and then Musharraf was perhaps much longer.

And the PTI also knows this, despite its bravado in public.

Perhaps this is why its latest corruption push is against the sugar industry rather than pursuing the older cases; it knows the earlier battle has already been lost. But the support base still expects accountability so the party has found a new cause in sugar, which allows it to deliver on its ‘promise’ of sparing no one, not even those within its fold. It is like someone who abandons one diet plan for another in the vain hope of losing weight.

There is no doubt that Imran Khan is fixated on accountability and punishing the PPP and PML-N, but it really is nothing more than the hysteria of the star-struck fan standing outside Shahrukh Khan’s house. He can say what he wants and he can return there every day but he won’t be able to get any closer to the star, who will remain out of reach.

And this is why it is hard to believe that Khan is driving the witch-hunt of the PPP and the PML-N because if he was, they wouldn’t all be sitting in the comfort of their homes and giving interviews left, right and centre on how evil and unfair accountability under the PTI is.

But it still helps that we all believe he is behind the accountability agenda because it also puts him under pressure by uniting all the other parties against the government.

For this reason — if no other — Khan should have second thoughts about the accountability process.

The writer is a journalist.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020