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Nawaz Sharif resigning over Panama Papers verdict is a blow to Pakistan

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DailyBiteJul 28, 2017 | 16:38

Nawaz Sharif resigning over Panama Papers verdict is a blow to Pakistan

In what was expected to rattle the civilian government and delicate democracy in Pakistan, the Supreme Court in the country has disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the ongoing Panama Papers case, involving Sharif and his family members, chiefly Maryam Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and the heir-apparent.

This is a major blow to not only PM Sharif, who heads the thrice-elected Pakistan Muslim League (N) government, but also to the Sharif dynasty, as well as the state of democracy within Pakistan, which hasn’t seen a civilian government complete a full term for one reason or another. It is however important to remember that Nawaz Sharif’s name itself doesn’t feature in the Panama Papers leaks, but those of his family members.

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The Panama Papers probe came to light in April 2016, when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published a globally coordinated exposé of politicians using the financial legal firm Mossack Fonseca based in Panama as a one-stop channel to funnel funds out of the country, park illegally obtained assets and use shell companies to hide wealth from the respective tax departments in the countries.

While Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s name featured in the list, it also included the likes of Vladimir Putin, as well as Indian film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

The probe against Nawaz Sharif was in connection with money laundering and the properties that his family members bought in the 1990s, using shell companies based in London, and inventoried via Mossack Fonseca.

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The landmark verdict against Nawaz Sharif saw the five judges of the Supreme Court bench reach a unanimous decision, and pronounce that Sharif be disqualified from his post as the prime minister of Pakistan. Headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, the July 28, 2017 verdict has also asked the National Accountability Board (NAB) to file its reference against him and his family within six weeks.

The verdict was read out by Justice Ejaz Afzal and according to the five-judge bench, all the investigation material collected by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) must be handed over to the NAB. Cases would be opened against PM Sharif, daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Captain Muhammad Safdar, the two sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, as well as others, and the judment must be out in 30 days once the NAB findings are filed.

Fallout for the Sharifs

Of course, the verdict makes it amply clear that Nawaz Sharif cannot continue as prime minister of Pakistan, and his family members may even face imprisonment once the NAB findings are out and the court pronounces its final judgment.

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Because the Sharif sons and daughter are also involved, the verdict might spell doom for their political ambitions, particularly Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who had just become the butt of international ridicule with what came to be known as #FontGate, when she submitted forged documented to claim her ostensible innocence in the Panama probe allegations.

Moreover, political rivals such as Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have been trading guns at Nawaz Sharif and family for long, and raking up the corruption issue. The verdict is a big boost for Imran Khan’s relentless political campaign against Sharif and the PML-N.

Though Khan hasn’t tweeted his reactions yet, it can be expected shortly, given that he has used Twitter to the hilt to drive home the Sharifs-are-corrupt narrative. Some of his older tweets are as follows:

Response in Pakistani social media

There’s a mixed reaction in Pakistani social media to the Supreme Court’s disqualification of PM Nawaz Sharif, ranging from relief to cynicism about the state of democracy in the country. While many are highlighting that Sharif has been disqualified thrice, citing it as a sign of extreme incompetence, others are not so accepting of the judicial activism in bringing Sharif down:

Of course, the Panama probe has occupied Pakistan news and social media ever since the JIT was constituted taking cognizance of the ICIJ investigation and global publication of the Pulitzer Prize-winning findings. Heated debates on the state of democracy, on PM Sharif’s head-on collision with the Pakistan Army and the ISI, of the civilian-military rival power centres and febrile accusations against each other in the wake of the ongoing probe, have kept ordinary Pakistanis glued to the news channels and social media.

In fact, the Wikipedia profiles of PM Nawaz Sharif, as well as the entry on Calibri, the font, were tampered with as well, in the course of the investigations.

Civilian government and democracy in Pakistan

Not a single civilian government has been allowed to finish its term in Pakistan, whether because of armed coup and violent takeover by the overpowering military-industrial complex, or because of disqualification, as is about to happen for the third time for PM Nawaz Sharif.

A strong editorial in April this year in The Express Tribune had said the Panama Papers probe fallout would be bad for democracy, no matter what be the outcome. It said that Imran Khan, who regained his political capital through #PanamaGate, was backed by the military-industrial establishment in Pakistan to create the anti-Sharif and anti-PML-N narrative, because the PM was trying to hem in the armed forces and its enormous stranglehold on Pakistan’s politics, economics and every other sphere.

The editorial noted:

“The Pakistani Prime Minister’s daughter and son were also mentioned in the Panama Papers. Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister himself, was not named in the leaks, however the family members’ names were enough for the opposition party of Imran Khan to raise hue and cry over it.

Imran Khan, backed by the establishment, was given a free hand to create a narrative that the Sharifs were behind every problem of Pakistan. Billions of rupees were spent on the propaganda to malign the Sharifs and electronic media was manoeuvred masterfully.

After creating the narrative against the Sharifs, the lockdown call of Pakistan’s capital by Imran Khan in November was an attack on the Sharif government to throw him out of power, the establishment clearly backing Khan at that time. However, Khan was not able to mobilise the masses and Sharif emerged as a victor.

Failure of the lockdown call, and the masses’ lack of interest in agitation, appeared to be the last nail in the political coffin of Imran Khan. It almost seemed all over for him. But then again the power players, operating behind the scenes, created a space for him. All of a sudden the Supreme Court of Pakistan took matters into its own hands and decided to listen to the case on a daily basis.

Interestingly, renowned lawyers like Asma Jahangir and Ali Ahmad Kurd criticised the Supreme Court for taking a highly political case. They were right, since the judiciary in Pakistan does not have a good history. From validating martial laws to convicting democratically elected prime ministers, it has always leant support to the establishment.”

It seems Nawaz Sharif would step down as the next prime minister of Pakistan will be a second-tier leader, firmly in the armed forces’ pockets. Scholar Ayesha Siddiqa has captured the asphyxiating hold of the Military Inc. on Pakistan’s every domain, and even she concurs that the case against PM Nawaz Sharif was blown out of proportion.

Siddiqa writes:

“It is not that lack of accountability is not a huge problem in Pakistan but that accountability has always been used as a political tool to punish rivals. Hence, ordinary people forgave Dr AQ Khan, the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, and accept him as a hero despite his confession on television regarding illegal sale of nuclear technology because in their eyes he did return something for all he took. Also, in the absence of the enactment of a strong law or principle of the rule of law, even courts are perceived by the man on the street as either corrupt or highly political. Moreover, when the law is meant to selectively conduct accountability (excluding the military and the judiciary), many raised eyebrows at an earlier judgment in the Panama Papers case that quoted Mario Puzo’s The Godfather but no law.”

Siddiqa also explained why and how the case against Sharif is as much in the courts as it is in the media, of course catalysed by Imran Khan:

“The office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister is subject to pulls and pressures far in excess of those in other democracies. But even by these standards, Nawaz Sharif is under inordinate stress. He is facing a court case and a scathing media trial. If proven guilty, Sharif cannot hold office as per Article 62 (1) (f) of the 1973 Constitution as he would be declared as not being sadiq (truthful) and ameen (honest). Even if the judges feel uncomfortable using the JIT report as the basis of their decision, the axe could still fall on Mr. Sharif on the basis of him officiating as a director in a company registered in the UAE while he was heading the government.

There are today very few people betting on . Sharif completing his term, which if he does, he’d be the first Prime Minister to do. But as far as the popular narrative in the country goes, Sharif is already gone. The working of the state bureaucracy has already slowed down in anticipation of some transition.

There are even rumours of Sharif’s current interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar, being favoured by both the Establishment and the rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as one of the candidates to replace him while the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government is allowed to complete the term.”

Corruption versus democracy

There are parallels with what’s happening in India at the moment, when democratically elected governments get subverted as allegations of corruption are thrown in and blown out of proportion, at the expense of other contributions or visions of the particular government

Curiously, while Nawaz Sharif’s family members may get indicted in the Panama Papers case, the Indians on the list – including Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgn, the elder Adani brother and others – are enjoying their time under the sun, issuing nonchalant bytes to the media that their names have been besmirched by those with vested interests.

Of course, their proximity to the ruling government in the Centre is well known.

Also read: Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif kicked out, while India sleeps on Panama Papers

Last updated: July 28, 2017 | 16:38
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