The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on PTI stalwart and federal minister Faisal Vawda, besides ordering him to appear before it on February 24 should serve to show that is must be taken seriously. Mr Vawda is apparently trying to wriggle out of having to explain his position to the ECP of having dual nationality at the time of filing his nomination for the National Assembly, and giving up his foreign nationality only when he had actually won. There had been an attempt to indemnify him by an amendment act, but that law was not passed, but it seems that it could not be passed in any case. Instead, Mr Vawda is trying to avoid the ECP, which wants to give him a personal hearing, so as to avoid a ruling which cannot go against the fact that he was a dual national at the time he contested, and only gave up membership when he won.
Mr Vawda has been one of the most trenchant critics of corruption, and has made it peculiarly his place to propose harsh, even vicious, punishments for corruption, but himself is exploiting every loophole possible, and using every technicality he can, to escape the consequences of his actions. At the same, it is worth noting that the PTI has not taken any action against him, instead continuing to keep him in the federal cabinet. If it does so on the principle of him being innocent until proved otherwise, that principle should be extended to those who have remained outside the PTI.
The PTI is not very good at accountability when it comes to corruption within its own ranks. The example of the leak of the video of the KP MPAs selling votes for the 2018 Senate election presents an unedifying picture. There may have been a resignation forced on the Law Minister, but the claims of MPAs that they had been edited in, showed that there had been no real change of heart. That this video had existed before; did not prevent one of the vote sellers being given a PTI ticket and then inducted into the provincial Cabinet. The PTI must not help those in its own ranks who stymie investigations.
