The court and the political parties

They’ll need a bigger spoonful of sugar to make this medicine go down

While inaugurating the Multan metro service, Nawaz Sharif recounted his government’s achievements. As elections are not far off, the ruling party naturally wants to remind the voters of what it has done for them, even if opponents call it exaggeration. It is also keen to have potshots at political opponents. It is within its right to do this. However, it was highly questionable on the part of a PML-N federal minister, who spoke at a party workers convention, to make fun of the Supreme Court proceedings in the Panama-gate case and use improper language about the apex court. Speaking on the floor of Punjab Assembly, a more cautious Rana Sanaulah hinted at dark forces who got Bhutto hanged and were stalking Nawaz Sharif now. A popular leader, he said, cannot be ousted from politics. Seen in the context of the ongoing Panama-gate case, the observations tended to support the stance of the federal minister.

Like the PML-N leaders, Imran Khan too wants courts to deliver judgments of his liking only. He wanted the ECP not to hear the petition about PTI’s foreign funding. When, disregarding Khan’s wishes, the ECP ordered him to produce the financial documents before the commission, the PTI chief accused it of being biased in favour of the petitioner for ‘extraneous reasons, including political’. Earlier, Khan had maintained that the government had inducted its own men in the ECP to rig the 2018 elections. After a serious censure by the CEC, the PTI counsel filed an unconditional apology over the ‘bias remarks’. Imran Khan however maintained that the apology was only tendered by his lawyer but not by him. Khan’s lawyer failed to turn up at the next hearing. This led the ECP to send Khan a contempt notice.

One expects political leaders to strengthen the institutions instead of making them controversial. In case of a perceived injustice done by a court of law, they should follow the institutional remedies rather than indulge in defiance. Confrontation with the courts brings down their prestige in the eyes of the common man and leads to lawlessness and anarchy.