Islamabad: “The law of the country does not prevent a disqualified person from holding a party office. If someone is convicted in a case, they get punished for that offence. The conviction does not deprive them of their other rights,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Salman Akram Raja said on Thursday. He was responding to Justice Umar Ata Bandial during the hearing of multiple petitions challenging the Elections Act of 2017 at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Earlier, Justice Bandial said, “When a person is disqualified, he is out of the Parliament. How can such a person become the leader of other parliamentarians.” As the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar resumed hearing on Thursday, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that a corrupt party head would corrupt the entire structure of the party. “A disqualified individual can gather 10 people, form a party and then use them [to further his agenda],” he remarked. Addressing Advocate Salman Akram Raja, the judge asked, “Qualified people are being controlled by a disqualified person. How can a person who has been punished [and disqualified] lead a party?” Disagreeing with Justice Ahsan’s assessment, Raja argued, “The issuance of Senate tickets by a disqualified individual does not corrupt the entire party. A disqualified person cannot come to parliament, but he can run the party.” “[By that logic,] can a dacoit and the ringleader of a drug mafia or a person involved in serious crimes also become the leader of a political party?” the chief justice asked rhetorically. During the hearing, the chief justice pointed out that the party ticket issued by PML-N for Senate election to Mushahid Hussain bore the signatures of Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted from the Prime Minister’s office last year following the Panama Paper investigation. Raja said that Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution pertained to disqualification and that the Election Act 2017 was not in conflict with the Constitution. He said the anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela had spent 27 years in jail, but his incarceration did not affect his ability to become the African National Congress and South Africa’s president. “The cases against Mandela were political, not criminal,” responded Chief Justice Saqib Nisar. He asked, “Can an individual who has insulted the court become the president of a political party?”, then responded to the query himself, “Anyone who issues contemptuous statements cannot be loyal to the state.” Justice Ahsan said that any attack on court was a violation of Article 5 of the Constitution and could lead to action in accordance with Article 6. The chief justice, then, told Raja: “Your party may have some good people. We are not imposing Article 6 on you.” Upon being quoted a precedent from an Indian court by Raja, the chief justice responded, “This is not India, so don’t quote examples from their legal system here. They never quote our laws.” Justice Nisar then explained that verdicts by foreign supreme courts held little value in Pakistan. “The US Supreme Court permits the burning of flags, allows a convict to become party leaders and thinks that homosexuality is fine,” he said, apparently pointing to differences between the laws of the two countries. The hearing was adjourned till February 21. The Elections Act of 2017 had paved the way for Nawaz Sharif to head the ruling PML-N despite his disqualification as a member of parliament. Published in Daily Times, February 16th 2018.