In time, each of these stakeholders will act on their own perspective of the verdict, but it is being termed as historic in some legal quarters for putting a disqualification timeframe for politicians that have been established as not being sadiq (truthful) or ameen (trustworthy) – which, incidentally, also includes Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Jehangir Tareen. No stakeholder has expressed any surprise off the record, including PML-N insiders.
“If you read the original verdict from July, the disqualification for life was all but guaranteed, despite the drama staged by the judiciary in the months following the decision,” a senior PML-N member says, adding that the senior party leadership, including Nawaz Sharif himself, were not only anticipating it, but prepared for it as well.
The political group that appears to have gained the most from the SC verdict are religious parties
Several PML-N leaders say that the verdict only reaffirms what they deem is a ‘successful narrative’ that the party is being victimised. Hence, the ruling party is confident that the narrative would continue to sell in the upcoming general elections.
The PTI insiders, meanwhile, suggest that Nawaz Sharif could have sidestepped the latest SC verdict had the government called in elections much earlier.
“None of this would have happened, if we had elections last year as we had demanded,” says the PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry, adding that the Supreme Court had no choice but to give this verdict.
“Legally speaking, it is not the Supreme Court’s prerogative to specify a time for the disqualification, and it should’ve been done by the Parliament long ago. The Parliament should now right its wrongs and make the needed amendments.”
Chaudhry also confirms that the decision does not alter the party’s strategy for the elections, considering that Nawaz Sharif had already been found guilty as the PTI had been asserting in the build up to the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers investigations.
The PTI is also confident that the PML-N’s claims of its narrative being bought by the masses would be undone in the elections, once the caretaker government takes over and the voters realise that the ruling party’s quaid (leader) has been disqualified for life.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) echoes similar sentiments, with some saying that the narrative is already falling apart.
“It is ridiculous that [the PML-N leaders] have been comparing the verdict with the one against Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, or even the move to remove Nawaz Sharif by Pervez Musharraf,” says PPP Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira.
“How can you peddle a narrative of victimhood when it’s your own government? The entire case against Nawaz Sharif was heard when he was the prime minister and all other verdicts have come when his appointed prime minister was in-charge. When you are ruling, who is the conspirator?”
Dismissing the PML-N’s claims of the interference of the establishment in compliance with the judiciary, Kaira says that these are excuses to avoid self-reflection. Although the senior PPP leader maintained that lifetime disqualification for Nawaz does not alter the party’s plan of action, he did concede that it would be echoed in upcoming rallies.
“Our manifesto is issue-based, and not based on point scoring. But yes, we would continue to expose the denial of the PML-N and their baseless allegations.”
The political group that appears to have gained the most from the SC verdict are the religious parties, for the ruling came in light of Article 62 (1)(f), which upholds Islamic ideals for parliamentarians to be eligible.
The recently-reincarnated Mutahhida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) insiders reveal that the coalition plans to expand the net to other politicians.
“We want everyone who does not live in accordance with the Islamic way of life to be disqualified by the Supreme Court, in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan,” says Jamaat-e-Islami spokesperson Ameerul Azeem.
“That is the demand we are going to put forward in the election rallies, so that the supremacy of Islam can be established.”
Similarly, the Milli Muslim League (MML), the party affiliated with Hafiz Saeed that was banned as a terrorist group by the US earlier this month, says that disqualification of Nawaz Sharif gives credence to its own pending case registered by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ahead of the elections.
“The Lahore High Court (LHC) has already barred action against Hafiz sahib and we’re confident that the judiciary would support our case and give MML the election symbol,” says MML spokesman Tabish Qayyum.