Longest-serving NAB detainee out after 20 months: How effective will Hamza be in the PML-N?

ISLAMABAD: Hamza Shahbaz, who has been granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC), was the longest serving high-profile political detainee of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly has finally got bail after more than 20 months in detention. He was arrested in the alleged money laundering case on June 11, 2019. He has been out of Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore only during his appearances in the accountability court or the Punjab assembly sessions after his production orders had been issued by Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Unlike the rules of procedure & conduct of business in the National Assembly, there had earlier been no provision in the provincial legislature’s rules for the issuance of a production order of an incarcerated member of the provincial assembly.

However, these rules were amended last year incorporating a provision similar to that of the federal rules. After that, the speaker had always issued Hamza Shahbaz’s production orders without any hesitation.

Hamza is out on bail at a time when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has virtually been taken over by Maryam Nawaz. How effective he will be in the party and its decision-making process is now an open question. The key question is whether he will still pursue the reconciliation narrative advanced by his father Shahbaz Sharif.

After Hamza Shahbaz’s bail, PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, who was held by NAB on September 28, 2020, and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwart Khursheed Shah, who was detained by the anti-corruption watchdog on September 18, 2019, are still left behind bars.

The PML-N leader has so far not filed a fresh bail plea while such a request for Khursheed Shah is pending disposal in the Supreme Court. Some time ago, the LHC had rejected Hamza Shahbaz’s bail application. He had withdrawn his appeal from the Supreme Court after it had pointed out that the grounds argued were not mentioned before the LHC. Most of the politicians held by NAB on various charges had been set free by the superior courts on bail after various periods of incarceration.

PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brothers had spent 15 months in jail before they were freed by the Supreme Court on bail.

Punjab minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Aleem Khan was detained by NAB on February 6, 2019 in connection with an offshore company, owning assets beyond his known sources of income and more. The LHC had granted him bail 37 days after his arrest.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was detained by NAB on December 23, 2019 in the Narowal Sports City (NSC) project inquiry. He was given bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on February 25 this year, 62 days after his confinement.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was granted bail by the LHC 86 days after her incarceration. She was arrested on August 8, 2019 in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case and was freed on November 4, 2019 as the LHC accepted her bail plea.

Punjab PTI minister Sibtain Khan had earned bail from the LHC 94 days after his arrest. The NAB had arrested him on June 15, 2019 in a case related to the 2007 award of contracts for the extraction of minerals in Chiniot. At the time, he was the minister for mines and minerals in the PML-Q government headed by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. He had been sent to prison on judicial remand on July 5 by the accountability court after spending 19 days in custody, the lowest duration among the NAB accused, on physical remand with the anti-graft agency. The LHC had given him bail on September 19.

There are also other senior political personalities and others who had got bail before the 100-day imprisonment. Earlier, Shahbaz Sharif was released by the LHC 131 days after his arrest. He had been held by NAB on October 5, 2018 and sent to jail on judicial remand on December 6 after remaining 62 days in NAB custody. He was given bail by the LHC on February 14, 2019.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was himself responsible for remaining behind bars for ten months as he kept refusing to seek bail on the grounds that the case against him was false.

When he was asked by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to approach the IHC for bail he complied with the request and got bail in just 23 days after he submitted the plea. He was apprehended by NAB on July 18, 2019 in the LNG import contract case which was closed by NAB in 2016 but was reopened in 2018. He had spent 71 days in NAB custody on physical remand.

Before his release, the IHC had given bail to former finance minister Miftah Ismail and former managing director of the Pakistan State Oil Imranul Haq in the same case. The draconian NAB law overrules the jurisdiction of every court of Pakistan, including the superior judiciary, to grant bail to the accused. But this provision of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 has been rendered irrelevant as high courts, exercising their writ powers, have set free several accused finding that there is no point in keeping the accused jailed. Almost anyone refused this facility by the high courts has been granted bail by the Supreme Court.