As Pakistan’s political drama continues to move along at breakneck pace, a new twist in the plot has been introduced by the verdict delivered on Monday by a three-member Lahore High Court bench, which disqualified Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting the by-elections, writes The News of Pakistan. Excerpts:
The full bench permitted Shahbaz Sharif to continue working as chief minister, referred his petition to the Election Commission and said his case should be considered as pending. Not surprisingly, the verdict has created an immediate uproar, with the PML-N describing it as biased and terming it the result of a conspiracy hatched by President Pervez Musharraf. Shahbaz Sharif’s lawyers have too held the ruling in his case — which implies his office as chief minister could be under threat — is not a neutral one. The PML-N is saying it would not appeal the judgment but any voter could do that.
But, if a pertinent example of why an independent judiciary is needed in any country was to be quoted, the case of Nawaz Sharif could be used to vividly highlight it. Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif had been declared eligible to contest elections by the Election Commission in May this year. Previously, the same Election Commission had decided they could not take part ahead of the Feb. 18 general election. The suspicion of political decision-making by the court has been voiced at every point, with arguments revolving around the issue of whether the pardon granted to Nawaz Sharif by former President Rafiq Tarar meant that he was no longer a convict. Sharif had been convicted of hijacking and other offenses following his removal from power at gunpoint in 1999.
While the Lahore High Court verdict for the moment prevents Nawaz Sharif from contesting by-polls scheduled in two days time, more intriguing still is the case of Shahbaz. If he were to be disqualified at this point, the younger Sharif, who had been acquitted by an anti-terrorism court for alleged involvement in a death during a police encounter, would find himself having to step out of the chief minister’s slot. This would of course create a colossal crisis, in Punjab and elsewhere. Already, the latest sequence of events will increase tension between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the PML-N, with the latter’s demand for the restoration of judges likely to become still more vociferous in light of the latest decisions. The judgment will, in any case, give weight to the argument that the PCO judges should not be retained when the deposed judges are restored, if at all.
