It’s a family affair

Soon after assumption of office Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote a letter to federal ministers and secretaries telling them, among other good things, to strongly tackle nepotism and conflict of interest. It was an interesting directive considering that nepotism is synonymous with the Sharif style of governance. Brother Shahbaz Sharif gets to be Punjab chief minister each time the PML-N comes to power.

This time though the PM had said Shahbaz might choose to become energy minister at the Centre to resolve the power crisis, but the latter changed his mind. Actually, he could rule over the largest province and yet sit on federal government’s energy policy meetings. After all, it’s a family affair. True, it is not so unusual for two brothers to be occupying positions of power; there are examples of the same from better governed societies as well. But the issue does not stop here. The Chief Minister’s son, Hamza Shahbaz, acts as the unofficial deputy chief executive of the province, asserting his authority everywhere, using government helicopter and travelling in a convoy of 27 vehicles.

The country’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is the father-in-law of the Prime Minister’s younger daughter. Older daughter Maryam’s husband, Captain Safdar’s only claim to fame is his marriage, and ineptitude a distinctive personality feature. Yet he has been ordering around the party’s senior leaders in his home province of KPK. His overbearing behaviour at one point created a situation where certain leaders threatened to quit the party unless he was restrained.

The daughter, with no public service record of her own, sat on a two-member panel that nominated party candidates for women’s reserved seats in the assemblies. She has also been enjoying limelight distributing laptops, bought with public money, among female students in Punjab’s government-run colleges. Members of the extended Sharif family have their own share in the spoils of power. A nephew, Abid Sher Ali, is the Minister of State for Water and Power; and a cousin, Bilal Yasin, Punjab’s Food Minister. The list may be even longer. It would be useful if the government clarifies whether or not any of this falls within the definition of nepotism.

It would be even more important to figure out the conflict of interest issue as it relates to our situation. For instance, when the Prime Minister went on his China visit his entourage included the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Balochistan, which is understandable given that some of the agreements signed there, such as the Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor in Balochistan and energy projects in Punjab, were related to their respective provinces. It is hard to fathom though what the Punjab Chief Minister’s two businessmen sons and one of the prime minister’s sons were doing in official discussions pertaining to the setting up of energy projects.

Something even more disconcerting happened during Nawaz Sharif’s private visit to Saudi Arabia. Soon after arrival, he called on King Abdullah, and later met with Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz. Routine courtesy calls, one would think. But present at the two meetings, aside from finance minister Ishaq Dar, was also the PM’s son, Hussain Nawaz, who has a strong business interest in that country. Speaking to Pakistani journalists at Hussain’s villa, Nawaz Sharif touched on a super sensitive subject involving a third country, saying that the US had warned his government that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project could invoke sanctions. In other words, forget the project. The US opposition to the gas pipeline that Pakistan badly needs to tide over its energy requirements is not something new. The mutual Saudi-Iranian hostility and the former’s close alliance with the US are no secret, either.

It is reasonable to assume that the PM’s hosts have been using their special ties to the Sharif family to ask for cancellation of the IP project agreement signed by the PPP government. As part of the agreement, Iran had offered to extend $ 500 million financial assistance for construction of the $1.35 billion pipeline, designating also its lead contractor, Tadbir Energy, which does not fall within the purview of international sanctions. To bypass any hurdles the two countries had decided that instead of Pakistan paying Tadbir, the Iranian government would take care of the entire $ 500 million payments to the construction company. The rest of the cost was to be raised through gas infrastructure development cess. Legal experts have also been pointing out that international sanctions apply to Iranian oil exports, and hence the gas pipeline should not be a problem. It is more than obvious that this government has been trying to wriggle out of the agreement on various pretexts such as that Iran should bear the entire cost, and that the tariff also needed to be revised.

More important, when the PM talked about US’ warning in Jeddah, he did not explain that his government itself had presented a ‘non-paper’ to US Secretary of State John Kerry saying the country needed the project to address its acute energy requirements, but in effect seeking negative reaction. Washington, of course, was going to say what it has been saying for a long time: that doing business with Iran is not acceptable. Anyone with a little bit of common sense could tell what would be Washington’s answer to Sharif government’s ‘non-paper’ on the subject. Which raises the question why did it then take the trouble of asking Washington what it thought of the project? Reason suggests it was meant as a ruse to fool the people a majority of whom want the government to safeguard the country’s self-interest rather than to serve outside interests to please personal benefactors or to obtain favours. To be upfront about the issue, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has a compelling case when he says those public leaders who have financial interests abroad cannot be trusted to pursue policies that are in the best national interest. Also, he has been urging enactment of a conflict of interest law to prevent holders of public office from using their positions for personal gains. Things being what they are, it is about time these issues are openly discussed and satisfactory solutions found.

saida_fazal@yahoo.com