ISLAMABAD: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has echoed his lack of confidence in the judicial process, heavily loaded against him, but would not run away from it and would continue to be part of it to highlight his side of the story even in the adversarial circumstances.
Meanwhile, a welcome development for the unity and cohesion of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was that estranged former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan made it a point to be present alongside other key party leaders in the presser that Nawaz Sharif addressed.
Over the past some time, he has frequently articulated his torment and dissension over the former prime minister’s certain policies. Now, it seems the row has settled down to a great extent. It is positive for Chaudhry Nisar, Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N and was unnecessarily dragged.
It was widely believed that the former premier’s presence in Pakistan would cement harmony in his party and nail the plans of his rivals to engineer cracks in it. This has precisely happened as the only loud dissenting, embarrassing voice was that of the former interior minister, but it too never reached a point where he even slightly hinted at changing his political trajectory.
Side by side Nawaz Sharif’s powerful political strokes, the disqualification case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is fast maturing and getting serious in the Supreme Court, which is not finding answers to many questions.
Indications are that the situation will be becoming more difficult day by day for him to justify his financial matters relating to his offshore company and the Bani Gala estate. At one stage, the judges had previously remarked that one document produced by the PTI chief in the court contradicts the other.
The bottom-line of the ex-premier’s eagerly awaited presser after appearing before the accountability court was his anguish, agitation and grave objections to the entire stage set against him: those who heard the Panama case chose a unique Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of their choice comprising “diamonds” in a mysterious fashion, through WhatsApp calls, regulated its proceedings, gave their verdict, became monitors of the accountability court, have taken control of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and ordered it to break all its rules to file references against him and others.
“Is this how justice works? Is this what we call the rule of law? Does Article 10 of the Constitution say this? Is this what it means by a fair trial? From the Maulvi Tameezuddin case to his judicial saga, no judgment in any important petition had been handed down on merit. We have to cure the 70-year old cancer, and if it was not treated, fear is that Pakistan may face another tragedy. I am fighting the case of all the prime ministers of my country.”
A telling message in his remarks was that he has no intention to skip the judicial process although he doesn’t expect justice and fair play as ordained in the Constitution. He returned from London although his presence was direly needed in Britain due to his wife Begum Kulsoom’s serious illness.
When Nawaz Sharif stated that decisions will keep coming (against him and his family members) but one big decision will come in 2018, he showed his clear mindedness about what would be the result of different cases going on against him. By saying this, he stressed that he was prepared for adverse verdicts, but at the same time expressed the hope that the biggest judgment would be his victory in the upcoming general elections.
Another powerful assertion projected by the ex-premier was that even during the dictatorial rule, he had the two rights of appeal against the court decisions, but sadly he has now been robbed of it. Importantly, in his words, this is the first case that the weight of the law was placed with the petitioner, and the rights of defence were not implemented.
In the disqualification case, the three judges, who formed the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, were dissatisfied as they were during earlier hearings about the replies given by Imran Khan. His failure to declare his London flat as an asset can have legal consequences, the top judge remarked on Tuesday.
The panel sought the account details of the PTI chairman’s offshore company, Niazi Services Limited (NSL), which was dissolved in 2015. His accountant, who appeared in before the bench to provide details of the accounts from 2001-04, admitted that he did not have them.
The court also asked Imran Khan’s lawyer to submit documents that prove that he borrowed and returned £560,000 to his former wife Jemima. The counsel said that the money was transferred to her through an account in the Royal Bank, and claimed that Imran Khan did not declare his London flat as an asset in his nomination papers because the apartment was not in Pakistan and was bought from money he had earned abroad.
However, earlier Imran Khan had told the court that while he hadn't included his apartment in his tax returns, it was declared through a tax amnesty scheme in 2000 and subsequently, appeared in his election nomination papers for 2002. The lawyer stated that the money trail of 100,000 pounds could not be traced and requested the court to grant more time so they can try and track it down.
