One may like the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or not, but it is hard to defend the position that he and his children were not corrupt after reading the 275 page Joint Investigation Report (JIT) that was produced on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The defenders of Nawaz Sharif and the skeptics may blame the “establishment” (read Pakistan’s military along with the ISI) for conspiring to ouster him but what is anybody to do when confronted with a document said to be drafted in 2004 in a font that did not exist till 2007.
Nawaz Sharif’s lawyers always took the position that it was unfair on Supreme Court’s part to be hearing the petition alleging corruption in the first place and the matter should first be referred to a trial court. Their wish is granted as the Court in its July 28 order has directed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) shall within six weeks from the date of the judgment prepare and file before the Accountability Court, references, on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the JIT in its report and such other material as may be available with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and NAB having any nexus with Sharif or his family’s assets or which may subsequently become available including material that may come before it pursuant to the Mutual Legal Assistance requests sent by the JIT to different jurisdictions.
The only difference is that the Supreme Court while deciding to refer the whole issue to accountability courts has also declared that having failed to disclose his unwithdrawn receivables constituting assets from Capital FZE, Jebel Ali, UAE in his nomination papers filed for the General Elections held in 2013 in terms of Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976(ROPA), and having furnished a false declaration under solemn affirmation, Nawaz Sharif is not honest in terms of Section 99(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan, and is thus disqualified to be a Member of the Parliament; the Election Commission was ordered to issue a notification disqualifying him from being a member of the Parliament with immediate effect, whereafter he shall cease to be the Prime Minister.
You may ask as to what is the point of referring the matter to the accountability courts when he has already been disqualified. The Supreme Court has taken care of this issue. What it has done in this respect is that it has disqualified Nawaz Sharif on the narrow ground of failing to disclose his assets in his family company of Capital FZE in the UAE at the time of the elections. As far as other charges against him particularly those relating to acquisition of exorbitantly expensive flats in London, it has asked NAB to file cases in relation to the same. The three members of the five member bench of the Court have refrained from deciding this matter.
Nawaz Sharif’s legal team is thus free to defend him in the accountability courts. The problem is that he is no longer the prime minister which should normally not make a difference; all are equal before law and courts are not expected to decide matters on the basis of one’s designation and authority. However, as the senior most judge of the bench in his remarks during the hearing had commented that how could we expect a trial court to do justice when the Sharif family is not even complying with the orders of the Supreme Court judges and not furnishing documents as ordered. The trial court is likely to have at least more clout when the accused is no longer the prime minister even if his party that he is heading remains in power.
In hindsight, one can claim that Nawaz Sharif did not handle the situation in a politically correct manner. He used the same tactics that he had used in the past but there were two major differences that he failed to take into account: one was the proliferation of TV news channels and the presence of social media; and the other was Imran Khan.
Nawaz Sharif may not have been a businessman himself but he operates like one. He believes in sale and purchase; he tried the same this time but there were too many players in the field and he could not manage all of them. He tried to control social media by introducing a strict Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act but it could not be fully enforced by the time it was too late.
And Imran Khan was uncontrollable and his handling of both the electronic and social media was superb. As opposed to this, a huge media cell was operated by Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, but it simply succeeded in annoying the JIT members and the judges of the Supreme Court instead of doing any good. It probably would have been better for the Sharifs if there had been no one present to defend it on the media instead of a few personnel hurling abuses right left and center. It made the Sharif’s family presence felt on the media but this was about it.
The legal team defending the Sharifs consisted of some good names in the country but they could not do justice to their fees. They probably acted on the whims of their clients rather than the other way round. Instead of the lawyers advising the Sharifs, it seems that they simply went along with whatever the Sharifs’ political advisors advised them to do. The result is for all to see as they could not secure even an iota of concession from the courts which is an extremely poor reflection of their legal acumen in conducting the case.
Handling cases in front of a friendly bench is one thing and doing the same before a hostile one is an altogether different ball game. Now it would even be worst in the trial court as the bench disqualifying Nawaz Sharif has also asked the Chief Justice to nominate a Judge of the Court to supervise and monitor implementation of this judgment in letter and spirit and oversee the proceedings conducted by the NAB and the Accountability Court. This means that the Sharifs have not yet seen the end of the Panama Leaks saga.
Is all of the above good for Pakistan? I think it is. Because it will deter all the corrupt and will force them to be cautious and careful in the future.
The Last Stop 