Toshakhana verdict

It’s raining verdicts – and all of them seem to be going against PTI supremo Imran Khan. For someone who used to be seen as having a lucky streak with the courts, the past two days have been tough for Imran Khan, as he has been handed one sentence after another in the cipher and Toshakhana cases. On Wednesday, just a day after he was sentenced to ten years in the cipher trial, an accountability court on Wednesday awarded PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi 14 years of rigorous jail time each in the Tohsakhana reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court has also imposed a fine of Rs1.5 billion on the couple and disqualified the former premier from holding public office for 10 years. NAB had filed the reference against the couple over a high-value Graff jewellery set, which included necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and a ring worth Rs1.57 billion. It was found that Imran and his wife Bushra had only paid Rs9 million and had fixed the price of the jewellery set through a private firm. The PTI is, as expected, appealing the verdict in a high court. The party says that Bushra Bibi has been dragged into the case merely to pressurise Imran.

This case too has led to legal experts questioning whether due process was followed during the trial. This case too, they say, seems rushed in how the verdict came about. Apparently, while Imran and his legal team were not able to offer any proper explanation and answer basic questions about the gifts, the verdict too has many legal loopholes. Once again, the thinking is that this verdict could be set aside by a higher court. Like the cipher case, this time too political opponents have been cautious in airing their views regarding what now seems to have become a norm for Imran and his party leaders – guilty verdicts one after the other. The PML-N is still high on Pakistan’s ranking on the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) having improved during the Shehbaz Sharif-led government in 2023 compared to his rival Imran Khan’s 2018-2022 tenure. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has asked Imran to seek repentance for his mistakes.

This may be a good stance for a political realm that had become unbearably toxic over the past few years but does not take away from the fact that the pattern is clear: sentence Imran just days before the elections. And to add insult to injury, sentence his wife along with him. This is reminiscent of how former prime minister and PML-N supremo Mian Nawaz Sharif was sentenced and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who was not a public office holder, was also sentenced, and the father-daughter duo was jailed just before the 2018 elections. One wonders whether this vicious cycle will ever end. Given recent politics, it doesn’t seem so. We are in fact slipping even further into a quagmire getting out of which will require a sustained push from all political parties, regardless of rivalries. For the past few years, every few weeks, we have reminded politicians that accountability must not equal political vicitimisation. Justice rushed is justice undone – a lesson Pakistan and its stakeholders have trouble understanding.