Elections roundup: It’s a date!

The polls are nearing and the political temperature in the country is in flux, but not because of the mass rallies and charged speeches that one would expect.

Instead, at the centre of the country’s attention and the election is Mian Nawaz Sharif, a man unable even to contest the polls.

The former prime minister has now said that the decision in the Avenfield verdict be postponed until he returns to Pakistan and is in the courtroom to hear it himself. On paper, his logic is sound. Cases are reserved for months on end, why not wait until he returns? The implications, however, are enormous. Mian Nawaz has said he will not be returning until Begum Kulsoom is better. How long could that take? Who knows, might be days might be months.

The verdict not being announced before doomsday on July 25 would be ideal for Mian Nawaz and the PML-N. Any possible backlash that they could receive with a verdict out in the final days before the polls will be neutralised. That the court is planning to announce it on Friday, however, indicates the verdict is something the judges don’t really want to keep under wraps much longer.

There has been a talk of there being some sort of agenda on reaching a verdict before the polls for some time now. The PML-N has argued that no best-before date should obstruct procedure. But now that the verdict is here, legally speaking, the quicker it is announced the better.

As for the courts, they will see one attractive offer in Mian Nawaz’s demand. The former PM being in the courtroom at the time of announcement might mean an immediate, and historic, “bailiff get ‘em” moment.

To her credit, Maryam Nawaz is putting on a brave face, saying she is willing to go to jail for the sanctity of the vote. That she is already trying to spin a possible arrest as a hero’s sacrifice says much about what the mood must be like over in London.

SETTING MORE DATES:

Justice Siddiqi of the IHC was back at it when he ordered the ISI to remove roadblocks leading to their offices within a week. He was later chastised by the Chief Justice, who has asked the ISI to specify a date themselves instead. The little court shenanigan was a pocket of activity full of symbolism. Obstructions put in place by the ISI which were called out before the chief justice had to step in to help save face. Pertinent with the polls so close. Make of it what you will.

JEEP SEASON:

Ch Nisar has decided to distance himself from other candidates that are using a jeep as their electoral symbol. His explanation has been non-existence. Ask the others, he said, why are you questioning me? Moody as he is, Ch Nisar can’t seem to get behind anything. Whenever the Avenfield verdict is announced, Nisar has promised a tell-all presser. He has promised many such in the past, all to great disappointment. It’s a Nisar-eat-Nisar world in the former Interior Minister’s little bubble.