Though the much talked about Panama Case verdict immediately brought the PML(N) party workers to the streets, distributing mithai and doing the dhamal, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is still on tenterhooks as he, along with his two sons, have been asked to appear before a Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The Supreme Court has asked the JIT to submit its final report within sixty days. The Supreme Court will also monitor the proceedings of the team on a periodic basis. Denying a clean chit to the Prime Minister, the court has ordered a multi-agency probe against the incumbent prime minister. In its judgment, the SC has directed NAB, FIA, SBP, SECP, ISI and MI to nominate representatives to probe whether the prime minister and his family members had accumulated assets beyond their known sources of income.
Interestingly, the leader of the bench that heard the Panama case is Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. His note in the Supreme Court's verdict started with a reference to Mario Puzo’s popular 1969 novel “The Godfather” and the quote ‘Behind every great fortune there is a crime,’ which is very telling. In his novel, the author recounts the machinations of a Mafia family. Mario Puzo’s novel was a popular piece of fiction and was turned into a hit film. It is believed that the epigraph of the novel was inspired by a sentence earlier written by Honoré de Balzac in French. The quotation selected by honourable Justice Khosa was enough to demonstrate his perceptions about the case. Before Justice Khosa, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja is also known to have made use of a quotation from literature in one of his judgments.

The judgment, comprising 540 pages, was based on a 3-2 split decision. The five-judge bench included Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, in their note, considered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disqualified while the other three judges favoured composition of a JIT to establish the facts before a final decision could be taken. As such, this can be termed as no more than an interim verdict. It may be mentioned here that Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who decided that Nawaz Sharif stood disqualified after they heard the Panama Case, will succeed Chief Justice Saqib Nisar as the 26th and 27th Chief Justices, respectively, of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Though the prime minister has been given a breathing space of 67 days, his chances of facing the humiliation of being removed from office are not over. The 3-2 split judgment of the five-member bench has certainly not cleared him or his family of allegations of misconduct. The first family has to face JIT investigations into the money trail and the properties they own in London. The JIT is authorized to examine the evidence and material pertaining to the case, relating to or having any nexus with the possession or acquisition of the London flats or any other assets or financial resources and their origin. The JIT has been mandated to submit reports of its progress before a special bench – a request for its formation is part of the judgment. The JIT has also been given a sixty-day deadline to file its final report.

In light of a very carefully drafted and comprehensive decision, the victory celebrations of PML (N) workers and voluble speeches of its leaders on this interim decision were definitely premature as the final verdict was at least 70 days away. The note of dissent from the two honourable senior-most judges should be taken rather seriously, especially in light of Justice Khosa’s reference to The Godfather, a Mafia don. Moreover, though three judges have not agreed to Justice Khosa and Justice Gulzar, there is a consensus that the Sharif family has failed to provide substantive evidence regarding the source of the money used to buy expensive properties in London.

Within 30 minutes of announcement of the judgment, it was made known through the TV channels that the Prime Minister would be addressing the nation that evening. However, apparently when the Prime Minister was made to realize by some of his advisers that the judgment was actually NOT in his favour, he decided not to address the nation. It is obvious that the judgment has further weakened the Prime Minister’s position. It would have been more in the fitness of things if Nawaz Sharif had resigned his premiership after being told that two of the senior-most judges felt that he should have been disqualified. He could have nominated someone else from his party to complete his tenure just as the PPP had done when Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was punished by the Supreme Court. Such an action would have established Nawaz Sharif as a person with high moral courage and his image would have been strengthened in the eyes of the public. While the decision and Nawaz Sharif’s stubbornness has weakened his position, it has also not strengthened the position of Imran Khan. Both of them have to wait for the final verdict with patience. It is hoped that better counsels will prevail on both sides. Nawaz Sharif needs to advise his workers to stop slinging mud on the opposition and concentrate on doing proper homework for appearing before the JIT.

Syed Jawaid Iqbal