A much-needed break in Panama case hearing

ISLAMABAD: Large squads of star performers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who kept showering their pearls of wisdom every day the Supreme Court held its hearings for weeks, have got a much-needed break due to adjournment of proceedings for some days owing to the illness of a member of the five-judge bench.

The recess has also given an opportunity to the lawyers of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children to have some rest from the grueling sessions in the courtroom. Salman Akram Raja was the third attorney, representing Hussain and Hassan, who faced a volley of inquisitive questions on Wednesday in his continuing arguments.

Even during tea breaks and after the hearings were over, the hyperactive political players have been showcasing their relentlessness in taking on each other and interpreting the proceedings in the way that suited to them.

They have been getting a convenient forum provided by a huge horde of news hungry TV channels to articulate their views. They will now take rest for some days and will come back to resume their assignments with renewed vigour to project their respective party lines.

The five-day break including weekly holidays of Saturday and Sunday may be extended, depending on the availability of Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, an active member of the panel, who is known for putting pertinent questions to the lawyers of all the sides and passing lighter remarks on certain points.

On the day he complained of chest pain and was rushed to the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, he had posed different queries to Salman Akram Raja.

More than once, the bench has gently asked these political figures to cease this practice, but they remained undeterred.  They persisted with the exercise with the primary objective of making political scores and playing to the galleries. However, the judges did not issue any express order to stop such kinds of daily shows saying that they did not want to impose any restrictions.

The PTI bevy was led by Imran Khan and included Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Naeemul Haq, Dr Arif Alvi and some others. The PML-N flock permanently consisted of Maryam Aurangzeb, Danyal Aziz, Maiza Hameed, Talal Chaudhry and Mohammad Zubair (now governor of Sindh). At times, it was given a helping hand by Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique in their usual cutting styles.

For some time, Imran Khan stayed away from the daily pressers outside the Supreme Court and preferred to chat with reporters at his Bani Gala farmhouse. But later, he too joined his lineup. His other activities away from the precincts of the Supreme Court remain suspended as he has been sitting in the courtroom throughout the hearings, pinning high hopes to the outcome in his favour.

He had shown the same enthusiasm, punctuality and regularity, when a judicial commission led by the then chief justice, Nasrul Mulk had inquired into his allegations relating to rigging in the 2013 general elections. But expectations had dashed as he failed to get anything.

The Jamaat-e-Islami has left it to its chief Sirajul Haq to offer comments on the daily hearings. Although some local party leaders always accompanied him, he has exclusively been doing the talking. His lawyer’s performance in the courtroom left much to be desired in view of the innumerable comments of the judges about his arguments.

Obviously, every active side has assigned the special duty to its outspoken representatives to attend daily hearings and give vent to its views to offset its rival’s impact. At one point, the government side offered to the PTI to terminate the practice of pressers, but the latter responded with a big no.

While the PTI has always taken the lead in initiating attacks on the PML-N on different counts, the latter has mostly confined itself to reacting to the onslaught.

However, a positive aspect is that no lawyer of either petitioners or defendants has ever spoken to waiting media men. Whether it was Makhdoom Ali Khan, Shahid Hamid, Salman Aslam Butt, Salman Akram Raja or Naeem Bokhari, everyone stayed away from journalists and acted like professional lawyer.

With a view to quickly decide these petitions, the bench decided to hold day-to-day hearings and declined to give even a day’s adjournment when it was requested by any lawyer. A few days before concluding his submissions, Naeem Bokhari was found much exhausted because of the burden of the case. For this precise reason, he has preferred not to attend the court proceedings when the defendants’ lawyers have been speaking. He has left it to his junior to take notes of their arguments to prepare his rejoinder later.

As is clear from the proceedings, the case has come very close to conclusion. As Salman Akram Raja will wind up in a couple of days when the court would resume hearings, Bokhari will give his response, bringing the proceedings to close.