“Don’t accept, don’t reveal — that seems to be the thinking,”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family have failed to explain how they managed to acquire their fabulous wealth. Qatari politician Hamad Bin Jassim – who supported the Sharif’s money trail – did not appear before the JIT despite reminders. The JIT has meanwhile collected damaging evidence which is enough to disqualify the PM. This includes the employment letter from Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority certifying the appointment of Nawaz Sharif as chairman of the Board till April 20, 2014 with basic salary of Dirhams 10,000. The financial structure and health of companies in Pakistan having linkage to the family members does not substantiate the wealth of the family. Nor does it justify the irregular movement of huge amounts in the shape of loans and gifts from the family’s foreign companies to the PM and some of the other respondents.
Finding it difficult to explain how the wealth was acquired, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel has taken recourse to legal nit-picking. He maintains that the JIT members exceeded their jurisdiction by adding two more questions to those posed by the SC for probe and by obtaining documents from abroad by hiring firms themselves. With PM’s complete hold over ministries, institutions and departments, impediments could have been created if the JIT had sought their help. In any case it could not have completed the probe within the two months allotted to it.
The three member bench of the SC provided an opportunity to the Sharif family to prove its innocence. The family has failed to do this. What is more, it is still unwilling to share the secret of its wealth with the court. A number of cases can thus be initiated against some of the family members. To start with there is the question whether in the presence of the available evidence Nawaz Sharif can continue to be the PM. While other matters can wait as they can be taken up by a trial court or NAB, this may be decided by the SC to end the prevailing uncertainty in the country.