The courts have provided relief to leaders of the PML(N), PTI and PML(Q) in the last few days amidst a lot of speculation and nail-biting. The biggest beneficiary was Maryam Nawaz as the sentence awarded to her in the Avenfield Apartments reference was set aside giving her a clean chit to hold public office. After another judgment by the LHC, her passport has been restored, enabling her to travel abroad. The contempt of court case against Imran Khan was a serious issue and an adverse judgment could have disqualified him from politics for a number of years. Mr Khan had to do a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to get a reprieve. The IHC maintained this was a contempt of court case but it was being dismissed due to Mr Khan’s conduct. PML(Q) leader Moonis Elahi, facing a money laundering case, was also let go by the LHC, which quashed the FIR against him on legal grounds.
During the last years of Nawaz Sharif’s rule, the establishment was bent upon disqualifying the PMLN and bringing in the PTI, using the courts for the purpose, while persecuting dissenting judges who refused to toe the line. After the problems created by Mr Khan’s incompetence combined with egotism, the establishment gradually became clueless. This provided the courts an opportunity to regain their turf as well as credibility.
The high courts, particularly the IHC, have been more receptive to problems faced by citizens due to the high handedness of the government machinery and the agencies. The IHC has got evacuated public land illegally occupied by powerful quarters and worked had to recover those forcibly made to disappear, with mixed results. It has also granted protective bail to anchorpersons under a cloud. It has treated political parties evenhandedly.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by a five-judge Supreme Court bench on 28 July 2017 for life under Article 62(1f) of the Constitution. Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on Tuesday remarked that the Article was a “draconian law”. It remains to be seen if Supreme Court has the will to rectify the blunder it committed five years back. In case the court strikes the Article down for being against the spirit of the Constitution or calls on Parliament to do so, it would strengthen democracy.
