Supreme Court couldn’t have helped him more
…is the disqualification permanent or not? Politicians’ opinions vary with their leaning, of course, but the legal lot is hardly any clearer. Some barristers say it’s quite permanent, but some judges say it’s not so at all.
Now that the dust from the disqualification is settling, and NAB is moving with the references, perhaps somebody could answer a few questions. One, is the disqualification permanent or not? Politicians’ opinions vary with their leaning, of course, but the legal lot is hardly any clearer. Some barristers say it’s quite permanent, but some judges say it’s not so at all. Some advocate even said on TV that the ban would last only for the duration of the present parliament.
Two, what did the Supreme Court really do with all the evidence? First it heard the principal parties, then it formed the JIT, and now it’s sent the whole thing, and more apparently, to NAB. But since the evidence – regarding the Panama mess, at least – is already exhausted over the last year or so, why now parade it before the accountability bureau also? Now there’ll be arguments, decision, appeal, etc., over pretty much the same evidence. How many chances must someone allegedly committing perjury, among other things, really get?
Three, what’s to be done with an ex-PM, ex-party head who’s now ineligible for either position, especially if the party in question raises the fallen to an even higher pedestal? Since he can’t be on any political party anymore, much less lead it, what to do if party defiance revolves around making the ousted the centre of everything? That’s just what the new PM’s been doing since taking oath? Nawaz is still clearly deciding everything important.
And four, and most importantly, what was the rationale – at the risk of repeating a very clichéd question now – behind sending a third time PM home on an undisclosed iqama when there’s a mountain of evidence crying to send him packing on much firmer grounds? By the time the five-member bench made the disqualification announcement, it knew how the PM had lied about the Gulf Steel Mills, Azizia Steel Company, Hill Metal Company, etc, to say the least. Why did that not cause the axe to fall? Why can’t two people, even lawyers, agree on one answer?
Now Nawaz is playing the only card he has left. Of course, the NAB process will come full circle in just over six months, and will likely bring another storm, but till then Nawaz, and his loudmouths, will play the victim card to perfection. ‘Nobody found any evidence of corruption’ is already their favourite line, even though the justices were lamenting to the last day about the Sharifs’ refusal to present the elusive money trail.
And talk of mysterious forces bent upon sabotaging the democratic process will also gain momentum even if, ironically, the so called parliament that outside forces are bent upon destroying is a congregation of (mostly) absentee feudal lords and industrial barons. And, what is more, the staunchest defenders of democracy look, and sound, like Talal Ch and Danial Aziz.
And it’s working. The N League has made so much noise that the average Joe on the street, especially in PML-N constituencies, fails to see the difference between the boots kicking Mian sahib out and the courts leaning on the Sharifs after a very poor defence in a criminal case. Many are even convinced that the entire story, starting from the original Panama leak (well outside Pakistan), was crafted by the Pakistani military with Imran Khan volunteering to play the pawn.
The Court’s iqama decision, therefore, has provided Nawaz with the perfect fig leaf in a desperate situation. The N fortress is now the last bastion of democracy under relentless attack by forces that fear progress, motorways and CPEC. And unless the NAB inquiry delivers a fatal flank attack just ahead of the general election, there’s a good chance Nawaz will sell this story successfully to the electorate once again. And who knows how permanent the disqualification will be.