The Prime Minister of Pakistan is under a cloud, reaffirming yet again that the civilian administration helms a failed state. Thursday's resolute refusal to resign can do but little to assuage the damage that his reputation as head of government has suffered.

The Joint Investigation Team's report on the Panama papers is a suitably damning indictment of Nawaz Sharif, his two sons, and daughter. In a feeble response to an ugly truth, the beleaguered Prime Minister has trashed the JIT report as a “pack of allegations and speculation”.

To uphold the certitudes of democracy ~ for whatever it is worth on the other side of the Radcliffe Line ~ he ought now to step down regardless of whether his resignation implies an admission of guilt. Of course, the report is not the final word on the family’s offshore fiscal fiddle; the Supreme Court will take a call on the objections raised by his party, PML-N. Suffice it to register that the investigation has levelled major allegations against the Prime Minister and his immediate family.

Sharif now has his back to the wall and should he decide to continue, he will be doing so in spite of the JIT disclosures. He will thus make himself vulnerable to the charge that he presides over a travesty of democracy. The erosion of credibility that Pakistan will suffer in the process will not be easy to heal.

A democratic country can do without a head of government fighting serious charges of corruption. The current crisis could well afford a handle to the Rawalpindi GHQ to dictate the terms of governance.

 Sharif has an opprtunity to clear the air in court even if the PML-N persuades him to continue in office. Political compulsions are of lesser moment in the overall construct. If he is cleared of the charges in court, he can seek to return to office though it will never be easy to shore up his image.

Pakistan is seemingly poised for a bout of political turmoil, and on the tenth anniversary of the siege of Lal Masjid in Islamabad (12 July 2007).

The plot thickens with the JIT having recommended the filing of a graft case under the National Accountability Bureau ordinance of 1999. Indeed, that recommendation has ramped up the pressure for resignation.

The JIT report has effectively knocked the bottom of the PML-N’s cavil that the investigation into the Panama Papers is actually a witch-hunt. Not quite, as it now transpires. Sharif and his family have not been able to furnish evidence to the investigation team in support of their claims.

Swiftly has the political class, from the Pakistan People’s Party to Tehreek-i-Insaf, banded together to demand his resignation. Once again, the judiciary has emerged as a critical factor in the political power-play.