Former Higher Commissioner of Pakistan to UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, has alleged that the then deputy high commissioner Abdul Basit was responsible for giving 15 lakh dollars to the Fake Broadsheet company. Wajid said that he took charge as high commissioner of UK in June 2018, and by then, Basit had already signed the controversial papers. The purpose of Broadsheet LCC was only to cheat people. Basit had signed on the Broadsheet papers thrice.
The issue of Broadsheet is getting more complicated by the day. One wonders how can a single person put the whole government in a bottle and then sign an agreement, which supports him. The purpose of the company was to identify the wealth of Nawaz Sharif, in which, it badly failed. Of late, a former Pakistani high commissioner to London has held Abdul Basit responsible for the Broadsheet scandal. It was the responsibility of Abdul Basit to investigate the firm. It is not a small amount for a poor country like Pakistan. The way the national treasury of Pakistan is spent is worrisome.
Abdul Basit has not responded to Wajid’s allegations. But Basit’s revealing statement is in the news today. Basit has said that Nawaz Sharif had conceded a lot to Modi, and in return got nothing. Nawaz did not even consult Pakistan’s embassy in India during his secret talks with Modi.
Basit has been talking like this for quite some time. He is implying that Nawaz was trying to establish relations with India ignoring Pakistan’s national interests. But at this moment, Basit’s statement does not seem to make any difference. Modi is talking to the current rulers of Pakistan the same way he used to do it with Nawaz Sharif, as Basit claims. It seems the Musharraf formula is being revived with India. The formula had failed then and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that the matter would be discussed with the next government in Pakistan. But the talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gillani did not yield any results.
The relations Nawaz Sharif tried to establish with Modi, though unacceptable at the moment, with the passing days, what was once “bad” has become “good”. Friendly countries are trying to bring India and Pakistan closer. But it is not easy to say what is going on as far as the Kashmir issue is concerned? Whatever is cooking may not necessarily be acceptable to the Kashmiris, let alone the Pakistanis. But the questions raised by Wajid on Basit need to be answered.