Daily Times

As Pakistan goes to the polls on July 25, doubts are being raised over the credibility of the elections. The people of Pakistan, who hold the army in high esteem, are now questioning the meddling of the military in the forthcoming elections. The speed at which the courts and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pronounced judgment based on the nebulous evidence against the former prime minister and his daughter raises doubt about the external pressure on the courts.

The sentencing of Nawaz Sharif to 10 years imprisonment and his daughter to seven-year imprisonment by the NAB in a case related to investment in four flats in London has sounded a death knell to Sharif’s political career. It is not to deny Sharif and his family’s involvement in amassing ill-gotten wealth, as the leaked Panama papers have revealed that the Sharif family had invested in property worth £200 million in London through two offshore companies: Nescoll and Nelson.

NAB, an anti-graft court, has found him guilty for not disclosing the source of money toward the purchase of four flats in London. The verdict has come just 14 days before the scheduled general election, damaging the prospects of Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) coming back to power. Earlier, Pakistan’s apex court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif on the specious charge of not being truthful in his tax returns by not declaring the salary received by him in a Dubai-based company and instructed the accountability court to complete the probe on his assets in six months.

Although one does not hold any grief for the former prime minister, the speed in which the courts have come to a verdict raises suspicion of the overzealous military taking undue interest in putting pressure on both the Supreme Court and NAB to indict Nawaz Sharif and his family over the leaked Panama papers. If this is true, as alleged by Nawaz Sharif, it does not augur well for the future of democracy in Pakistan. People in Pakistan have accused the anti-graft body of becoming a puppet in the hands of the military. This gains credence in the way the courts have rushed through the case.

Although one does not hold any grief for the former prime minister, the speed with which the courts have delivered the verdict raises suspicion that it is the overzealous military taking undue interest in putting pressure on both the Supreme Court and NAB

Maryam Nawaz supports the conspiracy theorists that the powerful military and ISI had a hand in seeing that Nawaz and his daughter were prevented from contesting the elections. It is a well-known fact that Nawaz enjoys tremendous popularity in Punjab. The sentencing of Nawaz Sharif has not gone well with the people.

It is to the credit of Sharif and his PML-N that they have successfully completed the second five-year tenure in the democratic history of Pakistan, a no mean achievement.

Nawaz, who is presently in London attending to his ailing wife, faces arrest on his return. Nawaz has already committed to return to Pakistan and face the law once his wife recovers from her ailment.

It is a well-known fact that the military wants Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to come to power, as Nawaz became too powerful for his boots and had even started questioning the military. His interview to a prominent paper about the involvement of non-state actors in 26/11 Mumbai Attacks has not gone well with the military establishment. The military has always undermined the democratic process in Pakistan, and it is nothing new that they have gone after a powerful leader. We have also seen in the past the futility of taking on the military. Nawaz has paid a heavy price for his indiscretion.

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Hussain Haqqani, writing for an Indian newspaper had said that “In the 1990s when the military-backed Sharif and the PML-N, the institutions of the state (including the judiciary) found nothing wrong with their acquisition of wealth. The focus then was on the alleged corruption of Benazir Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Sharif supported selective accountability against Bhutto and Zardari, and the latter spent 11 years in prison without being convicted.”

Today, Pakistan occupies a geostrategic position in South Asia, and with humongous investment by China, only a stable Pakistan would ensure the economic transformation in the country as political uncertainty and chaos could have far-reaching implications in the region

It cannot be denied that in spite of Pakistan’s democratic credentials, it is the military that is dictating its defence and foreign policy. This is buttressed by the fact that every time Nawaz Sharif attempted to improve relations with India, the military torpedoed his attempts by staging terrorist attacks in India.

It cannot be denied that the army has never been in favour of a strong democracy, as it felt that it would diminish its influence. This is one of the main reasons for the dysfunctional politics in Pakistan. People in the know say that Nawaz made a cardinal mistake by criticising the army and the intelligence agencies. It has proved a double whammy for Nawaz: having the audacity of taking on the military and intelligence establishments and indicting them for their complicity in 26/11 Mumbai Attacks and also the courts questioning his honesty and integrity. The leaked Panama papers gave the perfect opportunity to the army to exact revenge on him.

Today, Pakistan occupies a geostrategic position in South Asia, and with humongous investment by China, only a stable Pakistan would ensure the economic transformation in the country as political uncertainty and chaos could have far-reaching implications in the region.

It is only the people of Pakistan who can rescue the country from the political mess it finds itself in today by exercising their rights judiciously and without any fear, and by refusing to succumb to pressures from powerful agencies that are out to weaken the democratic process in Pakistan.

The writer is an independent columnist and political commentator

Published in Daily Times, July 13^th 2018.