Once again Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been in the spotlight since his alleged involvement in a suspicious bank transaction case. Lately, the counsel for Zardari has been making efforts to ensure his client’s acquittal, but the court has rejected his plea. Mr. Zardari has facing the charges of building a palatial house in Karachi with alleged ill-gotten money as he could not provide proof of his claim that he had purchased the property through legal means. His lawyer argues that the suspicious transactions of Rs8 billion is a private deal and doesn’t come under NAB jurisdiction. According to the NAB, Mr Mushtaq, who worked as a government employee in the President House from 2009 to 2013, had allegedly provided Rs150 million for the construction of the house. An illegal transaction of Rs8.3 billion was carried out through a bank account of Mr Mushtaq and the money was paid to Bahria Town.
So these are the finding of the case, but a lot more needs to be clarified. As usual, the PPP has rejected these allegations and termed it a political victimization while the NAB authorities are busy accusing the former President of plundering public wealth through fake accounts. In reality there are many aspects to this case. One aspect is the existence of the crime in the form of opening of fake bank accounts and transactions of billions of rupees. Another aspect is the authenticity of the NAB’s findings. The NAB authorities need to produce solid evidence in the court and the latter needs to take this case to its logical end. It is also the responsibility of the PPP leadership to prove their innocence. Why is it so that the main leadership of the PPP is always found involved in financial wrongdoings? They have to present the money trail of their expenditures and should not make the public fool by continuing to harp the slogan of political victimization.
In this situation, the role of judiciary is very important. Amid all this chaos, people are looking for honest leaders. In the presence of so many examples of corruption due to immoral and dishonest behaviour of politicians in whom the public repose their trust, the masses are now looking for a real change in the country.
