Uprightness has never been our rulers’ strong suit
Realising that the outcome of the references in the accountability court could be devastating, Nawaz Sharif has decided to ratchet up his offensive against the judiciary. What is more he is taking his case to ‘people’s court’ comprising gatherings of PML-N supporters. With elections due within months Sharif has to convince his voters that he is innocent and the charges leveled against him are a part of a conspiracy. The forthcoming public meeting at Abbottabad would be the first people’s court. The people’s courts would be the replica of the gatherings Sharif addressed while traveling to Lahore from Islamabad in August where he harangued the audience to declare him innocent.
Nawaz Sharif will recount at the gatherings what he considers his achievements: the CPEC, reduction in terrorist attacks and end to blackouts. The claim that CPEC is a Chinese gift to the PML-N government is as senseless as anybody maintaining that KKH was a Chinese gift for Ayub Khan and HMC Taxila for Zia-ul-Haq. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was conducted by the army on its own. Even when blackouts are no more there, high electricity charges will continue to rile domestic consumers and act as a disincentive for prospective investors.
The second issue that would dominate the public addresses would be Nawaz Sharif’s innocence. Finding the army a heavy rock to lift, Nawaz Sharif is increasingly putting all the blame for his discomfiture on the judiciary. What the former PM said about the courts on Friday through suggestions, innuendos, references to the anomalies in laws, controversial legal doctrines and incidents of miscarriage of justice are going to be further elaborated to prove he is yet another innocent victim of judicial hanky-panky.
So far Nawaz Sharif has succeeded in convincing few besides dyed-in-the wool party sympathizers of his innocence. He argues that he has not been convicted on corruption charges. In case he was sentenced on the basis of any of the three corruption references presently before the accountability court, this will weaken his stand while his political standing will suffer a visible setback.
