‘Honestly, Mr Sharif…

The case of Capital FZE is quite curious and injurious. It is not about the iqama, that you had so diligently declared, but about the non-declaration of the ‘receivables’ that became the formally stated cause of your undoing.

Again it wasn’t alone the matter of the 10,000 dirhams in salary which had gone unreported while you worked as chairman of the board that your son had formed in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai but your inability to sift the millions that revolved through FZE to benefit you and other family members in Pakistan. These were sourced from Jeddah and London and possibly by the business of the FZE itself, though it never got delineated by you or your son in the various opportunities that came your way. Also, which of what you received was not salary but a gift? It was imprudent to expect the investigation and the courts to play a guessing game.

Now, as chairman you may have no direct involvement in company affairs but what may one surmise when you were the principal beneficiary of whatever business the company engaged itself in? Gifting millions of dollars and revolving those through various companies spread over three geographic regions may be a useful cover to hide the origins of the money but facing scrutiny before the highest court of the country it also made it impossible for you to declare its real root. That leaves open many possibilities: was the money kosher through the legal business of Capital FZE, and other such cover companies? Or, was it ill-gotten, parked abroad from undeclared sources? Or laundered out from Pakistan, ill-gotten or otherwise? The onus of bringing transparency to these huge amounts was entirely yours. And it didn’t come out in your testimony’.

Why also Capital FZE became the most vexing part of the entire episode was: what else was it doing other than as an avenue of moving capital? Gulf in Dubai, Azizya in Jeddah and Flagship in London may be engaged in some real work – two were factories and Flagship is an umbrella company for many subsidiary real-estate work – but with the first two now no more and Flagship and its subsidiaries under debt of tens of millions from where was the money being generated.

Somehow it seems that the undisclosed Chapter X of the JIT report may contain answers whose disclosure at this stage may entail personal injury for Nawaz Sharif and complicate matters between Pakistan and other states. The JIT had pursued Capital FZE per the court’s desire, and it seems found matters of serious concern. It may be open to interpretation till the information is made public. It may border on hearsay for the moment but business activities with India possibly could be included. Business with India isn’t illegal if declared and sourced from Pakistan and is from the permitted list of items, but if it is from outside of the list and sourced from outside Pakistan, while the family head is the prime minister of Pakistan, it can be hugely embarrassing and untenable. Especially when nothing is going right between his country and its arch enemy, and people are being massacred on a daily basis by enemy action from across the border.

A recent World Bank report counts at least $5 billion worth remittances annually from Pakistan to India. These may well account for monies in lieu for trade but surely is more than what accounts for the recognised portion of the trade; almost half as much. Gold smuggling across the border is reportedly quite frequent. Similarly, most of the Pakistani sugar industry uses machinery imported from India. It is cheap and convenient, except that it may be mostly sourced through Dubai. Has Capital FZE had something to do with some of these activities? All this places the Sharifs’ business under a cloud of suspicion. Their relationship with the Jindals has already posed other questions. Too much has been left unanswered. A lot seems open to question in their dealings and money matters; stonewalling with false stoicism and allegations of conspiratorial inquest surely have not helped their cause.

The court in all probability saw a lot wrong, actively committed under the patronage of Nawaz Sharif and for his benefit, and sent it to a trial court to take care of it. While it did so it had to examine the former PM’s own position. Was he guilty of some provisions of the constitution which disqualified him to continue in that position? They disqualified him on counts which were already violated while knowing well that what stays unaddressed will pin him in the trial courts. What comes out is dependent on how the cases are prosecuted but placing a senior SC Judge to oversee the process means that the Supreme Court wants to see the case come to completion without undue delay. The court sees enough there to indict him to a trial. The judiciary’s hard-earned credibility meant it had to test its judgment on the touchstone of justice and legal fidelity.

It helps to note that as the five judges concurred with the decision, each held their own reason for reaching the conclusion of the Sharifs’ commission of guilt. It brings to mind a famous US Supreme Court injunction in the Roe Vs Wade case where the issue at hand sought each judge to view the matter in light of their respective belief and value system. The majority decision of 5-4 prevailed yet none could be counted in the wrong since the issue was so fundamental to each judge’s belief system. Judges are required to answer their call of conscience even if merit exists in the argument from either side. The Sharif case was a lot easier and a commission of guilt had to be judged.

This decision has meant a few things, some of which are already apparent: politics in Pakistan may have seen the last of Nawaz Sharif and his immediately family. If convicted in the NAB courts you may find the family bidding permanent farewell to politics. Shahbaz Sharif and his family will seek independent and complete control of the party; otherwise it will seek its own political route. That will spell the end of the PML-N as has been known. Politics, the electorate and the media are too polarised and will only ensue a very fractious and confrontational process of elections and politics. This will mean continuing instability. The institutions will be sucked into this blame-game by a divided polity which will mar their credibility and efficiency.

The 2018 election will be a tough one to conduct and may entail civil strife. This will weaken society and state and impact their focus on bigger issues like the war against terrorism and economic recovery. As long as the Nawaz Sharif family is in Pakistan, free or incarcerated, it will be a source of further disruption and disharmony and a cause for acute polarization. Pakistan will only suffer for such ruptures and end up further weakened. It might be a rougher ride than one we assume.

Email: shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com