Not quite a bombshell, the narcotics case against Rana Sanaullah turning out to be a sham. That much was clear from the day it had been made. Even the Leaguer’s most ardent of opponents back in his Faisalabad constituency were finding it hilarious that the PTI government was expecting the public to believe that the senior legislator was going around with drugs in his car to sell, like some sort of peddler.
The surprise was former information minister Fawad Chaudhry admitting on television that it was a sham case. When the interviewer pressed him on the issue, Chaudhry said that the case wasn’t initiated by the then government but by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF.) Since the latter organisation is officered by the Pakistan Army, there seems to be an attempt to deflect the responsibility of the case. But the interviewer wouldn’t have any of this; he said that the PTI government had seemed invested in the case, and that narcotics Minister Shehryar Afridi wasn’t merely doubling down on the case, he was also taking religious oaths when it came to these allegations. Yeah, he shouldn’t have, came Chaudhry’s smooth reply to these allegations about his fellow party member.
Now, there are some issues to unpack here. First of all, the deflection doesn’t work. The government, at the end of the day, is the government. If they cannot stand in the way of certain institutions making cases against specific individuals, they should just leave the government. Secondly, it doesn’t even look like the then government had not wanted to pursue such cases against the then opposition. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan had been openly vicious about how he wanted the leaders of the League and PPP to be treated. The flimsier-than-flimsy case against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is an example of that.
The startling revelations also leave some questions unanswered by the present government. Ironically, Rana Sanaullah is the interior minister at the moment. The narcotics control ministry used to be a division in the ministry. What does he say about the prospect of certain state institutions making cases against the opposition now that he is minding the store?
