Reappraisal of strategy: Nawaz to zero in on judge’s leaked tape

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to bring into focus in the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended accountability judge Arshad Malik’s leaked video, the press statement issued by the judicial officer after the release of the tape, and his subsequent affidavit.

It was in this context that the ex-premier’s lawyers have chosen, though belatedly, to file a review petition against the apex court judgment on the leaked recording. Since the controversial video was made public by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, the Sharif family has consciously avoided raising it in any court of law in its defence. However, there is now a change of mind.

“Through our review petition, we want to set the record straight and bring on the judicial record our stand on the controversial video,” a senior member of the Sharifs’ legal team told The News on condition of anonymity.

It was evident from the conversation with him and the general approach of the legal squad that they are in no mood to hasten the proceedings in the superior courts in the cases relating to Nawaz Sharif.

“We are aware that the fundamental judgment may not be substantially changed in the review, but we wish to present our point of view on the video. We reached this decision on reconsideration of our strategy,” the lawyer said.

When a 3-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa heard a slew of petitions on the video, the Sharif family opted for not becoming a party to the proceedings. The lawyer said that the court did not issue notice to the Sharifs to be part of the hearings.

The legal team waited till the expiry of the deadline to file the review. On its last day, it approached the Supreme Court registrar with the request to grant it time to submit the review. The plea was accepted and two weeks were given for the purpose.

The apex court ruled on Aug 24 that the video cannot be of any legal benefit to Nawaz Sharif unless it is properly produced before the IHC in the pending appeal, its genuineness is established and it is proved in accordance with the law to be treated as evidence. The judgment set elaborate criteria to be followed by all courts in accepting an audio, video tape in evidence.

In the IHC, the former prime minister’s legal team, the lawyer said, is following its policy of “go slow” instead of its previous strategy of fast track on the ground that the earlier approach had not produced any positive outcome. In this connection, Nawaz Sharif’s lead lawyer Khawaja Haris sought another three weeks to open his arguments on the appeal against Arshad Malik’s ruling in which he had convicted the former premier in a reference. He wanted “verified” copies of the judge’s press release and affidavit so that he could give his side of the story on the two papers.

Even before the summer vacation, Khawaja Haris had called for a long adjournment of the appeal as part of his slow track approach. He has now told the two-member IHC bench that he wants three months to complete his submissions on the appeal.

The lawyer said that the trajectory adopted by Nawaz Sharif’s legal team clearly reflects that it doesn’t wish to seek any decision at least during the current year. He said that the lead attorney wants to prepare himself fully to argue on Arshad Malik’s press statement issued after Maryam had made public the video in July and his affidavit that he filed with the IHC in an attempt to save his skin, clarifying his position about the contents of the tape and other related developments involving him and the members of Sharif family. The IHC had made the two papers part of the appeal file.

The advocate believed that the two documents would be helpful to the defence during the appeal because they contained a lot of material in its support. However, he said that while speaking on the suspended judge’s press statement and affidavit, the legal team will also concentrate on the merits and facts of the case.

He said that the primary objective behind filing the review petition was that the legal team can argue in the IHC that it had given its version on video even in the Supreme Court. The IHC, he said, at some stage may question the lawyers as to why they did not raise the issue of video in the apex court. Then, the pleading done in the Supreme Court during the review will be relevant, he said.

The lawyer said that submitting an appeal in a high court was a matter of right during which all the facts narrated in the trial court can be repeated and law points can be raised. But appeal in the Supreme Court is not a matter of right because it can only be filed when the leave is granted by it, he pointed out.

At the high court stage, he said, chances of relief are ten times more than those at the apex court. Therefore, he said, the defence is required to put up a powerful legal battle in the high court.

A development on the judicial front, related to the Sharif family, was the end of the physical remand of Maryam and her cousin Yousuf Abbas as the accountability court judge of Lahore turned down the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to extend it further. She has been in the NAB custody for questioning for the last 47 days.

Her counsel argued that nothing incriminating was recovered from Maryam and said that she was mentally tortured by the NAB. He claimed that her room used to stink and was not cleaned. He said she hadn't been investigated for a week and food was kept outside from where she was asked to pick it up herself. “Maryam and Yousuf Abbas were accused of supporting Nawaz Sharif in money laundering but no evidence was found to the effect.”