- Court’s final judgment against Nawaz
In the twenty-three-page judgment, recently delivered by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, the innocent question about the ouster of Nawaz Sharif has been answered in detail
This recent judgment has shown that judges don’t have any vendetta against him, they have legal reasons. Every point on which Maryam Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif had reservations has been answered by the court
Since 28 July, the day Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified him, Nawaz Sharif has asked one question in particular. ‘Why I have been ousted?’ No matter he was at a public gathering, a big political rally or talking to media, he compulsively asked this from the attendees. Where the PML-N workers and supporters showed their sympathy, it also attracted chides and rounds of guffaws from the opponents.
In the twenty-three page judgment, recently delivered by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, the innocent question about the ouster of Nawaz Sharif has been answered in detail. Where the ordinary layman party worker of PML-N, bound by his immense capacity of awe for Nawaz, failed to provide the answer despite being bombarded by the rhetorical question of ouster, the court’s judgment got Nawaz covered.
If we can recall the trust deed presented by the PML-N legal team which according to them was written in 2005 but, with a font which officially came out in 2007. The court in judgment has called this fraud ‘below the dignity and decorum of the office of premier’. Rightly so, this act alone constituted vehemently the allegations against PML-N. A document crafted by forgery and with the malicious intent of confounding the court is a heinous crime in itself. It goes on, a lie to negate another lie.
When this case was in Supreme Court, the counsel representing Nawaz Sharif argued at one time that the knowledge about the intricate details and formalities of holding an ‘Iqama’ aren’t known to our client. This claim was absurd but still could, if admitted by the court, give the accused benefit of innocence and doubt. The recent judgment has filled this loophole too. The argument by Justice Afzal on this issue is succinct and on spot. He argued that a novice can be forgiven for holding an Iqama but not someone who is in politics and business since the early 1980s. Legally even a novice can’t ask for this favour because ignorance of the law is no excuse. A super rich premier would only need an Iqama to entertain his illegal ambitions of amassing wealth stealthily.
The review petition, according to a brief note by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa in the detailed judgment, rubbishes the review petition presented by PML-N. According to Khosa, no grounds were presented and the argument by Nawaz lacked clarity and points discussed in it weren’t apt. That in fact landed him in this mess, from the beginning he played from the wrong side. He lied about everything.
During the early days of Nawaz’s ouster, Maryam Nawaz while campaigning for the vacant seat of NA-120 told the people of the constituency that my father was ousted because he didn’t withdraw the salary which his employer was giving him. Then she asked them, is it fair? Is it right to send someone home because he wasn’t taking the salary? At that time the core supporters of PML-N fell for this and believed that why would court send someone packing when he hasn’t even used the money earned from a second job. The judgment sheds light on this issue too. The plain fact is that a person holding a government office can’t hold any other and nor he can head a business organisation, etc. The legal answer is, not disclosing a secondary source of income in nomination papers is violation of Sec 12 and 13 of representation of People Act 1976. The question of withdrawal of money or not using it is baseless in the first place. The intentional deceitful non-disclosure of all sources of income is a crime.
The bleak chance of finding a way back into politics by Nawaz has been tarnished completely by this judgment. Now instead of beating around the bush PML-N needs to focus on the strategy, they’ll likely put in action for their survival in next general elections. Nawaz Sharif is not coming back, either as a candidate or party head. He has gone.
This recent judgment has shown that judges don’t have any vendetta against him, they have legal reasons. Every point on which Maryam Nawaz and Nawaz Sharif had reservations has been answered by the court. The legal implications of the case suffice to reason his ouster but on moral grounds when a top court of the country says about a person that he ‘tried to fool people inside and outside the parliament’, then he must take his leave.
The days of his glory were grand, he has seen it well and seen it all but now it is time to hand over the sceptre to someone else. PTI and PPP are already in high spirits for the next elections. PML-N needs to decide the next party head and put all the confusion behind for once and all. This time with revived PPP and triumphant PTI the competition is going to be tough!
