A division bench of the Lahore High Court had observed on March 2, 2017 that sugar mills owned by the ruling family have brazenly flouted court orders and disregarded a ban imposed on the establishment of new mills. The court had noted with dismay: “What precedent are they setting for others in the country?” In the judgment of the Panama Papers case announced on April 20, 2017, the Apex court passed strong strictures against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Had this happened in a truly democratic country, the prime minister would have had no option but to resign from the office. However, in Pakistan, our rulers take it as an offence if courts take them to task for violation (s) of law. In the case involving the ruling family’s sugar mills, the LHC had disapproved of relocation of sugar mills on grounds that it was prohibited under a notification dated December 6, 2006, upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Earlier, on October 28, 2016, the LHC division bench, while hearing intra-court appeal, had maintained the status quo in the matter of shifting of five sugar mills owned by PM Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and their relatives. Representing the JDW Sugar Mills Ltd, Jahangir Khan Tareen, general secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), then challenged this interim order. Setting aside the order, a three-member SC bench held that the LHC’s order of maintaining status quo was not sustainable. The Apex court asked the LHC to again hear the case with the division bench preferably headed by the Chief Justice. The bench, headed by the Chief Justice, then took up the matter and ordered immediate sealing of sugar mills of the ruling family, which were shifted to new locations despite a restraining order. During the hearing on March 2, 2017, the counsel of JDW Sugar Mills stated that the three sugar mills of the Sharif family completed the shifting in blatant violation of the stay granted by different courts. He claimed that Chaudhry Sugar Mills had spent Rs 600 million on its relocation. He also presented bank documents and photographs of the mills’ shifting process to substantiate his argument. The intermingling of business with politics has created a bizarre situation in Pakistan. The businessmen-cum-politicians are engaged in the kind of activities depicted by Matthew Parker in The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies. In this book, he uses the rise and fall of the sugar dynasties of West Indies as a framework for the intertwined histories of sugar, slavery, Industrial Revolution, and Britain’s American colonies. The story narrated in this book, occasionally horrifying, portrays the worst period of exploitation associated with the colonial period. Unfortunately, many of its remnants still exist in Pakistan. Their lust to amass wealth coupled with ambitions to control all institutions has made Pakistan a state-in-perpetual-crisis. This is evident from the following paragraphs of note by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed in the Panama Papers case: “In the above circumstances, I find myself unable to conclude that the assets in question, more particularly, the four flats i.e. Flats No 16, 16-A, 17and 17-A, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, businesses in London and Hill Metal Establishment in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have no nexus with Respondent No 1. The possibility of his equitable or beneficial interest therein cannot be ruled out.” “We are dealing with the first family of the country. Respondent No 1 is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The questions regarding properties of his family members outside Pakistan have remained unanswered. Such an inconclusive state of affairs is not acceptable. The people of Pakistan have a right to know the truth.” More quotes from the Panama case judgement will be presented in the next column but suffice to say for now that the third time elected prime minister can no longer continue to dodge questions about the sources of his family’s wealth. The writer is advocate Supreme Court and Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Email: ikram@huzaimaikram.com; Twitter: @drikramulhaq