While the summoning and appearance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before the six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) will go down in the annals of history as the first time a sitting PM appeared before an investigating body to record his statement, the House of Sharif is fighting its toughest battle till date, opine many observers.
The two big questions that loom large are: will the House of Sharif get out of Panama Leaks quandary scot-free or will there be a verdict that’ll both incriminate and taint their politics for all times to come? Pakistan Today decided to recount the previous encounters of Sharif family with judiciary, their comparison with other political families, and how they wriggled their way out before. One thing, however, is certain that Sharif family—despite various run-ins with legal system of Pakistan—has largely avoided any serious accountability on more than one occasion.
The infamous Plane Hijacking case, where elder Sharif was given a life sentence while younger Sharif, along with half a dozen other accused, was acquitted when juxtaposed with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s hanging is a clear example how Sharif family was treated way more leniently than its counterparts. Even the conviction was overturned after almost a decade in 2009, when he went in a revision and was exonerated.
The Asgher Khan case, where allegations of 1990 elections were levelled and funding from different agencies was alleged, once again, witnessed Sharif family not being held accountable for their role in the whole saga.
Similarly, the November 1997 attack on Supreme Court of Pakistan by the goons of ruling party ended nowhere, despite the fact that many workers of PML-N were convicted on 2000, the Sharifs were never made to answer for it before any forum.
According to Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, a notable lawyer based in Karachi, the main reason behind the successful strategy of Sharifs is that they don’t balk at the prospect of using direct illegal manipulation of everything related to dispensing justice in Pakistan. Siddiqui is of the opinion that three points benefit Sharif family the most: use of law as a tactical weapon, being part of permanent ruling elite of the country, and hiring and maintaining top-notch lawyers for litigation.
Never before a crisis deepened to such extremes for Sharif family as it has after the SC’s April 20 Panama Leaks verdict.
During the months-long hearing, many lacunae and loopholes emerged and remained unanswered along with many uneasy questions, whose answers need thorough investigation and digging up further.
Enter the JIT, a six-member group tasked with probing the 13 questions spelled out by the Apex court, its members hailing from the FIA, SECP, State Bank, ISI, MI, and NAB.
“The controversy surrounding JIT seems more by design rather than default, prima facie it seems that they are being hampered from performing their work. Look at what Attorney General told the court on Friday. Clearly, there are rifts between JIT and the government, and this time around, the probe has a no holds barred approach,” said High Court Advocate Nasrullah Shah, adding that the longer the case goes on, the more PML-N will suffer—both in vote bank and reputation.
Interestingly, the lawyers from various bars of the country are all set to launch a full-fledged movement against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Eid. “The delay in the movement came due to Ramzan but, Inshallah, after Eid, the movement will be launched again. Also, the JIT is bound to file its final report by July 6. Both movement and final report may coincide,” he told Pakistan Today.
Whether the PM gets acquitted or sent home packing, the past year has proved to be a tough one for Sharifs. The infamous Panama Leaks case has indeed proved to be the Achilles heel for Sharif family.