When reading the Title of the thread, many must have thought that calling Nawaz as the biggest single crook Pakistan has produced must be Sa1eem’s rant. But is it? No … it is not. It is words of a reputable journalist of Dawn … Irfan Husain. I just dared to take his words from his article and used that as title. Surprised? 
Some people question and doubt that if there is any truth on Ganja Nawaz buying judges (like Iftikhar), journalists, lawyers, and others in government for his own crook agendas. Well, if anyone writes about it than there are people who would consider that as propaganda. But is it propaganda? … Well, again that is also from Irfan’s article. 
There are some funny people who support Nawaz and Zardari (both are mega crooks and symbol of illegalities in everything), then these supporters talk about legality and illegality as if they are upright, when in reality they are amongst the darkest in character, on payroll of Nawaz (as it seems nothing can be unexpected from Ganja crook), or completely ignorant of facts taken for a ride by crook Nawaz and his goons.
Anyhow, here is an article written by ‘Irfan Husain’ of Dawn (16th Dec 2000), at time when Nawaz was let off the hook and was sent to Saudi Arabia. One should read the article and then say what this crook can do.
Few lines from the article to sum up Nawaz and his truth:
Please read the whole article to know the truth of Nawaz.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/dec1600.html#them
[Go to ‘Editorials & Features’ and look for article written by Irfan Husain].
The moral imperative
Irfan Husain
ALTHOUGH rulers in Pakistan have seldom been overburdened with moral considerations as they stumble, wheel and deal in the discharge of their responsibilities, there comes a point in their tenure when they forfeit the right to govern. They may hang on, but the remainder of their legal or illegal term of office is one long downhill slide.
This government reached this point when they released Nawaz Sharif in the dead of night and put him on a plane to Jeddah. **Here is a ****man who is arguably the biggest single crook Pakistan has produced, **and this is saying a lot. Thanks to his uniform mentors, he rose from obscurity to become finance minister of Punjab first, then the province’s chief minister, and finally served two abbreviated stints as the country’s prime minister. Along the way, he parlayed his clout and connections into an industrial empire of 51 units. Apart from his vast assets in Pakistan, he controls properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars abroad.
**Had his greed been limited to acquiring factories as though they ****were tokens on a board game of Monopoly, this long suffering nation ****might have shrugged it off as the acts of yet another crooked ****politician. But to protect these assets, he tried to corrupt the ****entire system, buying journalists, judges and generals and smashing ****any institutional and constitutional obstacles that stood in his **destructive path.
So when the army staged a coup to topple Nawaz Sharif’s government last year, many of us heaved a sigh of relief not because we were delighted by yet another military takeover, but because we honestly did not think there was any other way of getting rid of the man. And I still believe Pakistan could not have survived the remainder of his term. When the wheels of accountability began to grind the PML leader into the dust, there was no initial sympathy, although there was little credibility in the hijacking case conveniently proved against him. Had the army focused on straight corruption, all of us would have readily believed the charges.
When Nawaz Sharif was let off the hook last week in the murkiest circumstances, he had another 81 cases against him waiting to be heard by various courts. Details of his obscenely extensive holdings here and abroad made nauseating reading. Although the public reaction to his surreptitious and unconstitutional release varied, the common theme was of disbelief over the continuing accountability process. How on earth, people wanted to know, can this government possibly go on trying and punishing corrupt bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen (no judges or generals though!) when it had released the biggest crook of them all?
Another common strand, at least in the smaller provinces, is the provincial aspect of this scandal: a Sindhi prime minister can be removed and hanged by the army; politicians from the NWFP and Balochistan can be tried and sentenced for corruption; but a thoroughly venal prime minister from Punjab can be put on the plane with his family and allowed to leave to enjoy his fabulous wealth abroad.
Whatever else the quid pro quo might have been, on the face of it Nawaz Sharif has bought himself a very good deal. In return for a couple of houses (probably pledged to the banks against his billions in loans) and a few debt-ridden factories, he and his family have managed to get a clean chit from the president on the advice of General Musharraf. His offshore accounts and his many assets abroad (including four flats in Park Lane) remain his to
retire on.
Whatever else he may be, he is a much sharper card player than the generals he has cleaned out in political poker.
In his defence of this under-hand deal, a government spokesman made much of the intercession of a Saudi prince. Considering this government has successfully resisted pressure from the World Bank, the IMF, the US government and Saudi business interests to come to a settlement with the private power project, Hubco, it is difficult to see why it should cave in now and release a convicted criminal. The government spokesman has said this step was taken “in the national interest”. Who has defined this, and how is it in our interest to exile known crooks? While signing the CTBT is clearly in our national interest, this government has so far resisted all threats and blandishments to do so.
There has been some talk of the harm Nawaz Sharif’s exit will cause the Muslim League. Frankly, any collateral damage will be purely temporary, as the party is known to be composed largely of carpetbaggers with few ideals or principles to slow them down as they claw their way up the social and financial ladder. And despite the fact that many PML leaders are loaded (“from behind” in the vernacular), they have had no compunctions about accepting tainted money from the ISI to fight elections.
It will be a cold day in hell before such a party is embarrassed because its leader has fled the country. Ever since Pakistan was founded and Mr Jinnah died in 1948, this party has served as a fig-leaf for successive juntas who have resurrected it as they felt the need for legitimacy, and then cast it aside when it had served their purpose. The history of Pakistan is littered with different versions of the Muslim League.
Leaders and politicians in and out of uniform in this part of the world feel that once they are in power, nobody can dislodge them and they have the right to break every rule in the book to get what they want. And since all they seem to want is to remain in power indefinitely, their moral compass (if they started out with one) shrinks rapidly. They are willing to sup with the devil if that’s what it takes to keep them in power. But at the back of their minds, they know their acts will never be overlooked or forgiven, and this knowledge gives them further motivation to cling on at all costs.
Benazir Bhutto reached the end of her moral tether in her second stint when it was established beyond reasonable doubt that her husband had acquired a multi-million pound property in England known here as “Surrey Palace”. She compounded her moral dilemma by first denying the purchase and then taking a “so what?” attitude. Nawaz Sharif’s end was in sight when the Kargil operation was launched and he was perceived as being unable to order either the start or the end of the incursion. In his earlier stint, multiple scams such as the motorway, the yellow cab scheme and sundry crooked bank loans combined to make his continuation in office unacceptable.
It may well be that Nawaz Sharif’s unprincipled and morally unacceptable release may be the turning point in this government’s tenure because it has lost the moral authority to govern.
