Islamabad : Even a glimmer of hope that incarcerated ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam will be able to resume the election campaign of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vanished after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decided to hear the appeals against their convictions in the concluding week of July.
The last week of the current month will start from July 24 and the polling will be held a day later. The results of the electoral scramble will be certainly out when the appeals will be adjudicated.
It is not necessary that the present IHC bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, which held preliminary hearing on the appeals, will deal with them as the pair stated that these pleas will be fixed before the available bench at the time.
Although the PML-N especially its contesting candidates hoped against hope to have Nawaz Sharif and Maryam or either of them among themselves to give a boost to their campaign, everybody was certain that relief is not forthcoming as soon as they expected.
Among all the top PML-N leaders, the ex-premier is the most powerful, aggressive campaigner. His daughter also matches him in this sphere. Both are crowd pullers much more than any other party stalwart.
In their absence, the PML-N’s poll drive has been lackluster. Party president Shahbaz Sharif is struggling hard, but he has not been able to create the momentum that his elder brother and his daughter had before June 14 when they went to Britain to be with ailing Begum Kalsoom.
The biggest campaign event that the PML-N could organise since then was the day, July 13, when Nawaz Sharif and Maryam flew back into Pakistan to go to jail due to their conviction by the accountability judge Muhammad Bashir.
When the appeals will be heard by the IHC, fierce maneuvering, machinating and contriving will be underway for formation of federal and provincial governments. This activity will become all the more important amid reports that the general elections will produce a hung parliament resulting in a weak government.
With the physical absence of the former premier and Maryam from the exciting post-polls scene, they will be unable to make the contribution that they can while being out of jail although their party will seek guidance from Nawaz Sharif and will do what he will recommend.
As per the original timeframe set by the Supreme Court and the subsequent periodical extensions given by it to the accountability court, Judge Muhammad Bashir always held daily hearings with no breaks to decide the three references at a fast track. The proceedings starting in September last culminated in one reference on July 6 when he pronounced his judgment in the London apartments’ case. Still, two references are pending disposal.
The unprecedented speed, ordered by the apex court, witnessed at the trial stage was lacking in the IHC as no substantive hearing was held on the first day, which was confined to issuance of notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and summoning of the investigation officer and the case record.
A day before the appeals were briefly heard by the IHC, Judge Muhammad Bashir excused himself from holding proceedings on the two undecided references against the Sharifs. His letter to the IHC chief justice came two days after he had dismissed a plea of the defendants’ lawyers not to continue with these cases as he has already given his findings in one reference. Muhammad Bashir’s letter reflected his afterthought.
Now it is for the IHC chief justice whether or not to transfer the two pending references to another judge. Lawyers say by recuing himself from going ahead with the hearing of these references, the judge acted according to his conscience for which he has the right.
In superior courts, when a judge declines to hear any case, the bench he is part of automatically breaks, and the concerned chief justice forms a new panel. In the present case, the accountability court is presided by a single judge.
While the dashing of even the minor hope disheartened the PML-N at this crucial phase of the upcoming elections, its detractors were thrilled over the lack of return of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam to the campaign trail. These rivals particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is already having the field open with its chief adversary being out of the arena.
When even the relatively lukewarm election campaign is at its peak with the polling just a week away, the candidates of the PML-N, Awami National Party (ANP), Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiate Ulemae Islam-Fazl and Balochistan Awami Party have come under attacks from forces that want the polls to be disrupted so that Pakistan further plunges into chaos. This has fueled intense fear across the board.
Of these terrorist attacks, three incidents in Mastung, Peshawar and Bannu were most bloody, fatal and devastating. This wave of violence has massively handicapped and incapacitated these parties to accelerate their campaign. Besides, the electioneering of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chief Bilawal has also been hampered because of the fear of terrorism.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan also has to cancel a public meeting in Khyer Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for security reasons, but as a whole he has a free hand to campaign as he is holding back to back public rallies, more than one every day. The PTI has been safe from terrorists’ onslaught.
