ISLAMABAD: Five principal developments on the judicial front have either raised eyebrows or underlined once again the primary importance of the superior judiciary in providing relief to cornered, ailing politicians.
The first and foremost is the simultaneous filing of two pleas by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and leader of opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as well as the Lahore High Court (LHC), seeking bail for jailed, hospitalised deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The third development, which is related to these two, is the submission of a petition in the LHC by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, calling for her bail saying that her father was seriously ill and she wants to be close to him.
The hearings on all these pleas are fixed for Friday (today) by two separate benches. The frantic effort of the Sharifs and the PML-N is to manage bail for Nawaz Sharif bail so that he could get the treatment of his grave illnesses in Pakistan or abroad of his choice.
Previously, the former prime minister’s bail pleas were turned down by the IHC on the ground that the Supreme Court has set the standards for this facility in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases and the bail can only be given in cases of extreme hardship.
It is for the high courts to determine whether the medical condition that Nawaz Sharif is faced with, which has frightened not only his family and party but all and sundry falls in the definition of the extreme hardship.
The PML-N president has argued in his petitions that Nawaz Sharif needs immediate release on bail because of his precarious health condition, and that it is only a miracle that he has survived despite having very dangerously low platelet count. Still, he stated, anything can happen due to his health issues.
Friday may be the decisive day as the IHC and LHC benches comprising two judges each will take up the petitions. They have called for medical reports of Nawaz Sharif and summoned the concerned medical specialists, senior government officers and top official lawyers.
One case relates to the suspension of the judgement of an accountability court of Islamabad in which the former prime minister was convicted. The second petition pertains to the bail from the NAB custody as he has been arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog in the connection with the investigations concerning the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
At the same time, Maryam, who herself is not feeling well, has sought her bail from the NAB custody as she has also been arrested in the same case. As her condition deteriorated after her meeting with her father in the Services Hospital, Lahore, she was admitted to the same facility. However, she was shifted back to the Kot Lakhpat jail around 5am Thursday, which was denounced by PML-N leaders Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal. Earlier, sensing the highly unstable state of Nawaz Sharif, the Punjab government, on the prime minister’s direction, had allowed her to meet him although during the day a Lahore accountability court had rejected her similar plea.
All these petitions underlined the urgency to get Nawaz Sharif out of jail owing to his extremely serious condition. He was never so dangerously ill during incarceration or prior to it. The massive drop in his platelet count coupled with other multiple diseases have rung the alarm bells everywhere.
Not only Shahbaz Sharif but other PML-N leaders also articulated that it would be the decision of Nawaz Sharif whether to be treated at home or abroad if he gets bails. They said they were not in a position to say anything about this aspect. Khawaja Asif has repeatedly stated that the PML-N would not forget the ridiculing and mocking of the dire illness of Nawaz Sharif by his political rivals.
On the same day, the fourth development, obviously shocking, happened when a Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted all suspects in the horrific Sahiwal encounter case giving them the benefit of doubt. The verdict was announced after the suspects’ lawyers completed cross-examination of the testimonies of government witnesses. Forty-nine witnesses, including close relatives of victim Zeeshan and another victim Mohammad Khalil recorded their statements.
The injured witnesses—children of Khalil who were accompanying the victim when he was targeted—had not identified the suspects nor were the accused identified during photogrammetric tests.
In January, Mohammad Khalil, his wife and their three children were travelling in a car, with their neighbour Zeeshan behind the steering wheel, when Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel stopped the vehicle and opened fire on the passengers suspecting them to be terrorists. Khalil’s two children Umair and Muneeba had survived the attack.
Three family members—husband, wife and their teenage daughter—and their friend were killed. The couple’s minor son sustained a bullet injury while two other daughters remained safe. The CTD claimed that the operation was conducted on information about the presence of suspected terrorists, provided by the department and an intelligence agency.
Also on the same day but contrary to the previous development, the fifth event took place when the federal government de-notified the prosecution team in the high treason case against Pervez Musharraf being heard by a special court. The team was hired in by the government November 2013 during the tenure Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister.
The court was told that Raza Bashir—the government lawyer provided to the former dictator—was ill and was unable to attend the previous hearing. Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth asked the prosecutor if any notification was received, to which prosecutor Tariq Hassan said that he had not been notified. “Can the prosecution team be dismissed in this manner?” the judge asked. The micro-blogging site, Twitter, was awash with strong, furious comments on Nawaz Sharif’s health condition, acquittal of the Sahiwal massacre accused and dissolution of the prosecution team in the high treason case. These remained top trends on Twitter.
Eminent human right activist Afrasaib khattak wrote that disruption of the legal process of prosecuting an abrogator and usurper (Pervez Musharraf) is a crime against the people and state of Pakistan. “The purpose is to ensure impunity for other abrogators. Don’t they know that a state without Constitution has no legitimacy?”
Lawyer Haider Imtiaz posted: The prosecution team (including myself), which had been appointed in 2013 to prosecute Musharraf for high treason and had been pursuing the case ever since, has just been de-notified by the federal government. After years of delay, the case was fixed for final arguments on Thursday.
A social media user wrote that all killers of innocent family of Sahiwal incident got acquittal as Punjab police destroyed all relevant evidence during investigation. Good justice!
Another post said if this is the level of justice, I fear that soon those two grieving kids would actually be held responsible for their parent’s gruesome killing. Shame!
Noted constitutional expert Salman Akram Raja tweeted: With the policemen accused in the Sahiwal massacre acquitted by an anti-terror court no mask remains between the facade and the reality of ‘due process’. The same day the govt. disbands the legal team prosecuting Musharraf. Case had to be adjourned indefinitely. Due process done.
