Politics and the judiciary
The Central Working Committee of the PML-N has unanimously
and enthusiastically declared former prime minister Nawaz Sharif its Quaid
(leader) for life while electing his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister
Shahbaz Sharif its interim president. The arrangement has a precedent. When
Nawaz Sharif was in exile during the Musharraf regime, Javed Hashmi was made
the president and Nawaz Sharif the Quaid. In the present circumstances, the
move has been necessitated by, and is a response to, the Supreme Court’s (SC)
striking down the provision of the Elections (Amendment) Act 2017 allowing
disqualified Nawaz Sharif in the Panama case to become the party president. All
the portents point to Shahbaz Sharif being elected the permanent party
president by the PML-N’s General Council on March 6 to meet the deadline for a
replacement permanent president. According to some reports, there was a
discussion whether Nawaz Sharif should be called Rahbar (guide) or Quaid. It
may be recalled that when old age and indifferent health forced Khan Abdul Wali
Khan to relinquish the Awami National Party’s reins, he adopted the sobriquet
Rahbar. However, the PML-N has plumped for Quaid, not the least to send a
message to the party’s detractors and critics, especially the judiciary, that
Nawaz Sharif has a special place in the hearts of his party colleagues and
workers and nothing, not even the double disqualification of their leader by
the SC, can change that. The advantage of naming Nawaz Sharif Quaid is that it
is not a constitutional title, nor does it give Nawaz Sharif any formal power
over the party’s affairs, thereby pre-empting any further hostile move against
him from any quarter. While, therefore, ‘Quaid’ does not anoint Nawaz Sharif
with any de jure position or powers, de facto he is and will remain the leader
and final decision maker of the party. The enthusiasm of the PML-N members at
this outcome was in sharp contrast with the ‘missing’ former interior minister
Chaudhry Nisar. Contradictory reports speak of Nawaz Sharif’s reluctance to
invite him to the crucial meeting because of his opposition to Nawaz Sharif’s
confronting state institutions such as the judiciary (and allegedly behind them
the military). He had also made disparaging remarks rejecting the possibility
of working under rising political star Maryam Nawaz, the elder Sharif’s
daughter. On the other hand, some reports say the invitation was indeed
extended but Chaudhry Nisar chose to stay away. Now a flurry of statements
indicates Chaudhry Nisar intends to ‘speak up’ on the issue in a couple of
days. The reluctant Chaudhry did however congratulate Shahbaz Sharif, with whom
he is said to see eye-to-eye on the need to avoid confronting powerful state institutions.
On the very day these developments were taking place, Chief
Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar ‘clarified’ during an unrelated case that
he had no political agenda except ensuring the people were provided services
and facilities that were their due. The CJP also expressed his reluctance to
hear political cases but argued the SC had no choice when such cases were
brought before the court. With due respect to the honourable CJP, it is
possible to disagree with the latter statement. Well intentioned efforts to ‘do
good’ may have landed the SC in controversial waters when the perception takes
hold of judicial over reach and intrusion into the spheres of the executive and
legislature’s responsibilities. Such dividing lines may become blurred
sometimes, but our jurisprudence, at least until CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry’s
restored court, tended to weigh more in the direction of judicial restraint so
as to avoid controversies surrounding the boundaries of the division of powers
that is the foundational construct of our Constitution. As the developments
within the PML-N have once again shown, the judiciary cannot prevent political
logic from taking its course. Only the electorate can truly decide the ultimate
fate of political leaders, certainly not the judiciary, however noble its
motives.
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