Defiant politics results in 4th conviction of Nawaz in 18 years

ISLAMABAD: This was the fourth conviction of thrice-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in last 18 years due to his aggressive politics.

The previous three convictions in 2000, July 6 this year and July 2017 did not bring an end to his political career as anticipated and cherished by his persecutors and antagonists. The third conviction is unexpected to produce a dissimilar outcome as far as his politics is concerned.

Every time his defiant politics was the bone of contention for his opponents, who devised a plan to oust him from the political field to make the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) headless and rudderless.

The second half of Nawaz Sharif’s long political career, spanning 18 years, has been quite turbulent during which he had to appear before different courts for innumerable times, ultimately resulting in his convictions and imprisonment.

First, it was Pervez Musharraf, who, after overthrowing the Nawaz Sharif government in a military coup on October 12, 1999, desperately worked to get rid of him. He was successful for eight years when the ex-premier and his entire family remained in exile in Saudi Arabia.

After his departure from Pakistan, Musharraf had a smooth sailing and was not confronted with a big challenge to his rule. However, following his exit from the presidency the retired general has been in a deep soup and has not picked up the courage to come back to Pakistan from abroad to face court cases, including the high treason trial for violating the Constitution.

Musharraf had framed Nawaz Sharif in the plane hijacking case and got him tried by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Karachi headed by Judge Rehmat Hussain Jaffery. The former prime minister was accused of hijacking the commercial plane by which Musharraf was traveling back to Pakistan from Sri Lanka after paying an official visit on October 12, 1999.

In January 2000, Nawaz Sharif was formally charged with terrorism, hijacking and conspiracy to murder offences. Then, his trial opened. On March 10, three gunmen shot dead one of his lawyers, Iqbal Raad, in his Karachi office. On April 6, he was sentenced to life after being found guilty of terrorism and hijacking but was acquitted of conspiracy to murder.

Ironically, advocate Khawaja Sultan, father of Khawaja Haris, who has been representing Nawaz Sharif in the Supreme Court and other judicial forums for over two years, had fought his case before the ATC and later the Sindh High Court (SHC).

While the ATC had awarded life sentence to Nawaz Sharif , it had acquitted all other accused of hijacking the plane carrying Musharraf and 198 other passengers.

Nine years later on July 18, 2009, this judgement was quashed by the Supreme Court, clearing the way for him to return to parliamentary politics. “Looking at the case from any angle, the charge of hijacking, attempt to hijack or terrorism does not stand established against the petitioner [Nawaz Sharif],” a 55-page unanimous verdict of the five-judge bench said.

The petition had been moved by Nawaz Sharif to clear his name, saying the sentence was a stigma and slur on his character, compromising his right to contest elections. He had not filed the appeal against the SHC decision for a long time, arguing the judiciary was not independent because the judges had taken oath under a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), promulgated by the dictator.

“Every citizen is entitled to have his name cleared, if unjustifiably sullied, and it should be of particular importance to the petitioner, who remained prime minister of the country twice and is presently leading a major political party, to remove the stigma of conviction for a crime and that too of hijacking, generally associated with terrorism,” the judgement authored by Justice Nasirul Mulk said.

“Consequently, the petition is converted into appeal and allowed. The conviction and sentence of the appellant are set aside, and he [Nawaz Sharif] is acquitted,” the bench comprising Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Moosa K. Leghari, Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani observed in the order, reversing the October 10, 2000 SHC verdict that had upheld the ATC’s verdict. The SHC had turned down a state appeal demanding death sentence.

For the second time, Nawaz Sharif was convicted by an accountability court chaired by Judge Muhammad Bashir on July 6 this year in the London apartments’ reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the direction of the apex court contained in its Panama judgement.

The court sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, his daughter Maryam to seven years and son-in-law, Captain (R) Muhammad Safdar to one-year. For the third time, the ex-premier was convicted by accountability judge Irshad Malik to seven years in one reference while exonerated in the other case.

For the fourth time, Nawaz Sharif was convicted by the Supreme Court on July 28 last year when he was disqualified as the prime minister. Earlier, he had been deprived of the top office by Musharraf’s coup while this time he had lost the position due to the judgement of the apex court before and after his conviction for the first time by the ATC during Musharraf’s time, Nawaz Sharif had to spend 14 months in jail. He was held incommunicado during the first two months of his detention after the imposition of martial law. Finally, he came out of the prison on December 10, 2000, the day of his departure for Saudi Arabia.

After his sentencing by Judge Muhammad Bashir, the former premier remained in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, for over two months before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted him, Maryam and Safdar’s bails in the London flats’ case. The NAB appeal against the IHC decision is pending disposal in the Supreme Court.