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Panama Papers and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif
21 April 2016 Asia
The leak of 11 million documents held by the Panamabased law firm Mossack Fonsecaidentified links between many political and business leaders around the world andoffshore companies and accounts. Among them was the Pakistan prime minister's family,as the BBC's M Ilyas Khan explains.
Why is Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under pressure?
The Panama leaks have come at a time when Mr Sharif is already reeling from his latest battlewith the powerful military.
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The leaks reveal that three of his children own offshore companies and assets not shown on hisfamily's wealth statement.
The companies identified so far include three British Virgin Islandsbased companies NescollLtd, Nielsen Enterprises Ltd and Hangon Property Holdings Ltd, incorporated in 1993, 1994 and2007 respectively.
These companies have been used to channel funds to acquire foreign assets, including someapartments along Park Lane in London's Mayfair area.
The insinuation that the companies were meant to hide or launder illgotten wealth or to avoidtaxes has called his credentials into question.
Also, worldwide protests that embarrassed or forced political leaders elsewhere to quit theiroffices have added to the pressure.
How has he responded?
The leaks triggered panic in the top circles of the ruling PMLN party, and the pressure wasbelieved to be the reason behind Mr Sharif's unscheduled departure for London on 13 April tokeep a rare appointment with his doctors.
Top PMLN figures suggested that no offshore companies or assets were shown to be held inhis name, and that he could not be held accountable for what was owned by his sons. Besides,the leaks did not necessarily mean any wrongdoing, they said.
Mr Sharif himself called the leaks the work of people "targeting me and my family for theirpolitical aims". In an address to the nation on 5 April, he said those "who use illgotten wealthdon't keep assets in their own names".
In that address, he announced plans to institute an inquiry under a retired judge, which waswidely rejected by the opposition and the media on grounds that such inquiries went nowhere inthe past.
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What are the opposition politicians doing to investigate allegations?
The most lethal attack was launched by opposition politician Imran Khan, the head of the PTIparty, who staged a siege of Islamabad's federal quarters in August 2014, paralysing Mr Sharif'sgovernment for months.
Back then it was believed some elements in the security establishment were backing theprotests to prevent Mr Sharif from taking domestic and foreign policy initiatives independently ofthe military.
Many thought that the protests left Mr Sharif's government considerably weakened.
Mr Khan has now called for Mr Sharif's resignation and an inquiry into the allegations by theChief Justice of Pakistan. Failing this, he has threatened public protests, including a siege of MrSharif's residence in Lahore.
This has created an air of acrimony, with both sides launching personal attacks on each other.
As a result, a number of retired judges approached by the government to head the inquirycommission have declined the offer, limiting Mr Sharif's options.
Other major opposition groups are also demanding an inquiry under the Chief Justice, but theyhave stopped short of calling for Mr Sharif's resignation or fuelling public protests.
Has the episode further weakened Mr Sharif?
There is no doubt the leaks have left him on shaky moral ground.
The allegations of corruption have chased Mr Sharif since the 1980s. And much of what the
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Panama Papers have revealed now was the subject of a federal inquiry in the mid1990s.
Mr Sharif ordered that inquiry closed when he came into power in 1997, terming it "politicallymotivated".
But this time he and his family have had to admit they used offshore companies to acquireforeign assets.
Also, the allegations have come at a time when his government is battling to keep somesemblance of civilian control over domestic security and foreign policy issues that have beenslipping into the military's control.
On Tuesday, a statement by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, that terrorism cannot be effectivelycurbed unless "the menace of corruption" is uprooted, has got the tongues wagging.
While many suggest the statement may be just a general remark to express solidarity with thepopular sentiment, some exmilitary analysts have said it may well be a statement of intent.
What happens between now and the end of the term?
In a recent article, independent political and defence analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi has outlined anumber of possible scenarios.
One of these could be street agitation, which he says could accelerate Pakistan's internalconflict.
It could either degenerate into a stalemated confrontation between the government and theopposition, or it could lead to an inhouse change, or even the setting up of a fixedterm military
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backed civilian dispensation to "clean up the stables".
A more likely scenario is that of Mr Sharif continuing in office as a weaker leader, giving evengreater initiative to the military.
What does this all say about Pakistani democracy?
Pakistan's vacillation between democracy and military rule has prevented the state fromevolving an independent system of accountability.
Successive military rulers used corruption and accountability to target opposition politicians.
Gen Zia ulHaq's rule during the 1980s took the matter a step further by raising a whole newbreed of politicians and setting up financial procedures that made misappropriating governmentfunds almost acceptable.
In a society where family and tribal links determine the distribution of jobs and official patronage,political corruption has not taken long to spread.
Politicians complain they have remained the only target of campaigns against corruption whilethe military and the judiciary remain outside the purview.
The military and the judiciary insist they have their own separate systems of internalaccountability and do not need governmental controls.
Both have colluded in the past to oust politicians from power, but have abstained from callingeach other's actions into question.
There have been instances where retired military officers accused of embezzlement in civiliansphere have been coopted back into the military to prevent them from being tried under themainstream laws.
More recently, a sitting chief justice was accused of receiving perks from a real estate tycoon,and at least two judges, one of them now retired, have been named in Panama Papers asowning offshore companies.
In these circumstances, as Pakistan stumbles from one phase of confusion into another,democracy, rule of law and real accountability have become cliches with a negative connotation.
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