How global media houses reacted to Nawaz’s ouster

LAHORE: Former Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s unceremonious disqualification from the office, following a unanimous Supreme Court of Pakistan verdict on Friday, dozens of credible international media houses had immediately treated it as breaking news, with some expressing a “between-the-lines sympathy” with the veteran politician.

Prompt analysis, details of the charges levelled against Nawaz and salient features of the Apex court’s verdict against the three-time Premier had flashed real time headlines. Many of these foreign newspapers, news agencies and television channels had given backgrounders related to the role of the powers that be in toppling regimes prematurely. Here follow selected excerpts in this context from some premier global media outlets:

The Washington Post:

The embattled three-time premier, 67, immediately accepted the dismissal. But the stunning, unanimous verdict by five members of a high-court panel, whose senior justice excoriated Nawaz Sharif and his family for engaging in “mafia”-like financial dealings, gave a powerful boost to Pakistan’s major opposition leader, Imran Khan, who brought the case against Sharif in the Supreme Court more than a year ago.

On July 30, the “Washington Post” Editorial Board wrote: —

Once again, Pakistanis are being reminded of an unfortunate pattern. In the nation’s 70-year history, not one prime minister has served out a full five-year term. They have been thrown out by coups and dismissed by judges. The latest example came Friday, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified— essentially dismissed — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on grounds that he had lied to the nation about his family’s wealth and financial dealings.

The ouster does seem to be another chapter in Pakistan’s seemingly endless flirtation with state failure and chaos. But not so fast. The court’s action suggests it managed to extract some accountability in a sea of corruption and arbitrariness. 

Mr. Sharif, who served as prime minister in the 1990s before being ousted by a military coup, was elected in 2013 with a sizeable margin. He has struggled to respond to Pakistan’s economic woes.

But his undoing was set in motion in April 2016, by publication of the Panama Papers, more than 11.5 million leaked files published by an international consortium of investigative journalists.

The papers included nearly four decades of data from a law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, which disclosed a  web of offshore transactions by political leaders around the world. 

The papers revealed that three of Mr. Sharif’s children owned or could sign authorization for offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands. This raised questions about the origins of the family wealth. Mr. Sharif told the court through his lawyer that he did not own any shell companies or property through offshore holdings himself, without addressing whether his children did. The Panama Papers led to protests, and calls for his resignation, including from opposition party leader Imran Khan, the former cricket star.

The court subsequently created a five-member panel to investigate, and the panel’s report accused Mr. Sharif’s family of perjury, forgery and hiding assets. It found, among other things, that Mr. Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, potentially falsified ownership documents that were dated 2006 but written in a font that was not commercially available until 2007. The court then acted unanimously to force him out of office. 

Pakistan undoubtedly faces a period of political uncertainty. The next elections are scheduled for 2018. Meanwhile, Mr. Sharif’s ruling party enjoys a strong majority in Parliament. He is expected to install a loyalist as interim prime minister this week and, longer-term, his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, in the post. Whatever the political outcome, Pakistan seems likely not to be shaken from its desire for closer relations with China, which is pouring $50 billion into infrastructure projects as part of its attempt to build a massive trade route. Pakistan’s strong establishment also will remain powerful forces behind the scenes of the Muslim-majority nation, a nuclear weapons state. 

Still, Pakistan has so often been a miasma of uncertainty, impunity, coercion and violence that it is worth applauding the Supreme Court’s determination to see this case to a difficult but necessary conclusion. It’s a glimmer of hope for accountability and rule of law in a nation that could use much more of it.  

The CNN:

No civilian prime minister in Pakistan has ever completed a full term in office. Friday's ruling marked the first time in the country's history that a leader was disqualified from office following a judicial process.

Sharif's term was to end next year, and he wouldn't have been able to run again because of term limits. But with the disqualification, he can't hold any parliamentary position, become involved in election campaigns or lead his party.

General elections are scheduled for April, and the ruling PML-N is widely expected to win despite Friday's ruling.

Under Sharif, Pakistan has experienced economic growth and a marked drop in terrorism. The government also has initiated a bold foreign policy that led to strong ties with China and the formation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Known as the "Lion of Punjab," Sharif is one of Pakistan's leading industrialists and richest men as well as a fearsome political operative -- having been Prime Minister twice before.

But his long political career has been dogged with missteps and allegations of corruption. He was forced to step down during his first term as Prime Minister after a family-owned business grew tremendously while he was in office.  

The Independent:

Mr Sharif, 67, has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed the investigation is biased and inaccurate. His allies have alleged this is just a conspiracy to unseat him. He is currently in his third stint as Prime Minister and his previous two periods in power were also cut short. Mr Sharif faced a coup in 1999 but came back from exile to win the 2013 general election.  

The Guardian:

Though this leaves Pakistan’s politics in turmoil, it is a very international affair. It was sparked by revelations in the Panama Papers.

Is the Sharif family’s power, which has dominated rightwing politics in the country for so many decades, finally coming to an end? And if so, who will fill the vacuum?  

The New York Times:

The verdict came as no surprise. Even though Mr. Sharif was not named in the Panama leaks, and there is no evidence that he abused public office for private gain, the judges disqualified him for hiding assets, and therefore, not being “honest,” an insidious constitutional requirement for being a member of Parliament. They had already made their intentions clear by turning the inquiry into a zealous inquisition into his moral character, with the head of the five-member bench disparagingly comparing the Sharif family to the mafia in “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo.

The Bloomberg:

Whatever one thinks of Pakistan's former prime minister, the circumstances of his ouster are troubling.

In Pakistan’s 70 years of existence, not one prime minister has served a full five-year term. They’ve been toppled in coups or removed by judges. So it was always fruitless, I expect, to hope that Nawaz Sharif, elected with a massive mandate in 2013, would become the first. And so it has proved: Sharif was “disqualified” -- in fact, dismissed -- by Supreme Court. The last elected prime minister before Sharif, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was also dismissed by the Supreme Court, in 2012.

The headlines will tell you that Sharif was forced out amid accusations of corruption — and that’s true, as far as it goes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go very far. In fact, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Sharif was dismissed because, as with the others, a secretive “establishment” decided to fire him.  

Deutsche Welle or DW (Germany's public international broadcaster):

Political observers say the establishment is very skeptical of Sharif due to his repeated attempts to improve ties with India and enhance trade between the two nuclear-armed archrivals. Also, a strong civilian government has always been a threat to the unchecked power, they say. 

Some analysts have dubbed Sharif's disqualification a "judicial coup."

Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington noted there was a "pretty strong precedent of the Pakistani judiciary being very active and essentially sending elected officials packing." The expert also said the Panama Papers case was "more about his family" than Sharif himself.

"You have to acknowledge the fact that Nawaz Sharif himself is not really being accused of anything that is against the law," Kugelman said prior to the verdict.

The Khaleej Times:

The decision brings to an unceremonious end Sharif's third term in power, which would have seen him become the first Pakistani prime minister to complete a full five-year term.

Most have seen their tenures cut short by the powerful establishment or interference from the Supreme Court. Others have been ousted by their own party, forced to resign — or been assassinated

The Associated Press:

Sharif immediately resigned in what he called a show of respect for the judiciary, even though he said the court's decision was unjustified.

The landmark ruling threw Pakistan, which is battling attacks by Islamic militants, into political disarray and raised questions about who will succeed Sharif — and even who is running the country at the moment.

The Arab News:

The ruling saw political uncertainty take hold in Pakistan once again, with Cabinet dissolved and the country left without a sitting prime minister.

The Reuters:

Sharif swiftly resigned, but a member of his outgoing cabinet implied that elements of the powerful establishment had a hand in his ouster.

The ouster of Sharif, 67 raises questions about Pakistan's fragile democracy. No prime minister has completed a full term since independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

The court verdict marks a major political victory for opposition leader Imran Khan.

The BBC News:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's removal from power may have come as a shock to many Pakistanis, but they are by now quite adept at handling such chaos.

Between 1947, when the country won independence, and Mr Sharif's ousting on Friday, Pakistan has had 18 civilian prime ministers. All have been forced out prematurely.

This is Mr Sharif's third removal from office, and things do not appear any worse for him now than in 1999 when he was toppled in a coup.

This time the axe was wielded by the Supreme Court because he failed to declare "his un-withdrawn receivables" from a UAE-based company, Capital FZE, as required under election rules.  

The Gulf News:

Pakistan’s political scene will remain shaky for next few months as instability and confrontation among the politicians is expected to continue.

During the next few weeks, new scandals and cases are also expected to surface as the NAB has already taken up the leads given by the JIT.  

The NDTV India:

Nawaz Sharif's resignation on Friday has plunged the nuclear-armed nation into political turmoil after several years of relative stability. Mr Sharif quit after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court over undeclared assets.  

The Hindustan Times:

Nawaz Sharif’s departure from the political scene in Pakistan is going to shift the balance of power, and this will embolden terror groups targeting India.

So overwhelming is the political strength of the PML-N in Pakistan’s largest province of Punjab and so weak is the opposition it faces, it’s likely that the PML-N will still go into the elections as overwhelming favourites. It is not clear that Imran Khan will necessarily benefit electorally.  

The China Daily:

In a formal reaction to the court's verdict, the PML-N spokesman said that despite "serious reservations over the contents of the petition and different stages until the court's verdict, it has been decided that the court verdict will be implemented."

He said "all legal and constitutional requirements of fair trial have been badly trampled. Injustice has been done with us. History will make its own decision on this verdict."  

The CNBC:

Pakistan is likely to face serious political and economic instability after the country's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is ousted from power by the Supreme Court following a corruption investigation into his family's wealth.  

The Hindu:

Diplomats and experts said the biggest loss, however, would be internal to Pakistan where a pro-peace lobby was emerging.

Experts said it is unlikely however, that Mr. Sharif’s exit will have any impact on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case or the Kashmir issue.  

The Times of Israel:

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term. It is the second time in Pakistan’s 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister.  

The Indian Express: 

As things stand, it has been a big day for Pakistani politics. The government of Nawaz Sharif has been brought down by the historic Supreme Court ruling in the Panama Papers case. For the third time, he has had to resign before completing his full term. He is the second PM after Iceland PM to resign in the Panama Papers case.