In conversation with Hamid Khan: “Things should not stop the Sharif family”

Next fortnight is crucial for House of Sharif

There was so much against the Sharif family in their transactions, in their business deals, and major findings of JIT which they could not explain like their assets multiplying hundreds of time. I think that could have been firmer grounds for the judgment than the iqama

Senior vice president PTI, Hamid Khan, is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (2001-03). He is the author of five books on legal subjects, including Principles of Administrative Law (2013), Islamic Law of Inheritance (2008), and Administrative Tribunals for Civil Servants in Pakistan (1990).

DNA sat with Advocate Hamid Khan to make sense of Post-Panamagate scenario with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disqualified, a PML-N in disarray and an ascendant Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Question: What’s PML-N’s immediate strategy likely to be? There’s only so much fuss they can create, since they weren’t ousted through a coup, rather the Supreme Court. How can they really play the martyr here?

Hamid Khan: I think someone from their party should be person in the know. As they would be the right people to comment on that and since I don’t belong to PML-N there’s only so much I can say. But what they should do is keep themselves relevant and bring a replacement for the PM for the next year or so. PML-N should find somebody who can keep the party intact, a person who can hold it together. That should be the person.

Q: The decision to disqualify seemingly came because of the Dubai company and iqama, whereas it was thought that the Sharif family’s inability to show the so called money trail would prove its undoing. Your comments please?

HK: I am actually a little surprised about it as there was so much against the Sharif family in their transactions, in their business deals, and major findings of JIT which they could not explain like their assets multiplying hundreds of time. I think that could have been firmer grounds for the judgment than the iqama thing. This is what I think should have been given more weightage to in the judgment.

I haven’t entirely read it like that but they’ve given more than one reason in the detailed judgment, one is un-withdrawn receivables and the other one is false declaration. I am not yet sure whether the false declaration pertains only to the Dubai company or to the other companies as well,

Q: How far down the road do you see the net expanding to include other high profile politicians whose earnings do not match their lifestyles? Did you notice some caution in the initial PPP reaction?

HK: They should be worried about that, and this process of holding the powerful to account should not stop at this stage and not with the Sharif family and must go further and other political parties and other political players should also be held accountable. Not only politicians, but everybody who holds a public office should be included in this. Failure to do so will give an impression to the public that the whole exercise was aimed at one family.

Q: It’s already become clichéd, but who do you think gains the most from today’s verdict?

HK: I think Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf gained the most from the verdict. It was their effort, their struggle and their petition that the court announced its verdict; they were the first to take up the cause and helped unfurl the foreign assets and them being beyond known means.

Q: We understand that there are around seven ministers who have acquired iqamas. Do you think they all are going to face the axe as well?

HK: They should. What is the verdict for Mian Nawaz Sharif should be the verdict for all ministers, and I think one chief minister’s name has also propped up. See, this accountability should not and must not stop with the Sharif family alone and every person who is involved in such activities should get the axe.

Q: How do you see the political fallout for the PML-N and its leadership? Is the Supreme Court verdict a beginning of the end for the House of Sharif?

HK: I think next fortnight is going to be really, really critical for PML-N and House of Sharif alike. It will tell if PML-N manages to keep its house intact at this stage and retain its government. Now, they direly need a person who can hold its members and march towards the next election. If it happens, then I think the PML-N will recover some of its lost credibility before the next election.

Failure to find such an individual will eventually lead to disintegration of their party and will cause damage to it that will be really hard to recover from.

Q: With the precedent it has set, do you see any threat for Imran Khan and Jehangir Khan Tarin as their disqualification petitions are in court right now?

HK: I don’t see any threat to Imran Khan in the present petition against him. Everything about his case is in black and white and since I am not aware with the case against Jehangir Khan Tareen, I won’t be able to comment on it.