Above suspicion at all times

Those in positions of authority should avoid even a whiff of scandal or impropriety. This is a sound principle and ought to be followed closely, especially by those in public office.

In 62 BC Pompeia, the wife of Julius Caesar, hosted the festival of Bona Dea (“good goddess”), which was an all-women party. However, a young and flamboyant patrician named Publius Clodius Pulcher managed to sneak in disguised as a woman, apparently for the purpose of seducing Pompeia. He was caught and prosecuted for sacrilege. Caesar gave no evidence against Clodius at his trial, and he was acquitted. Nevertheless, after the trial, Caesar divorced Pompeia.

When people questioned the logic behind Caesar’s decision to divorce his wife, he remarked, “My wife ought not even to be under suspicion”. Caesar said because she was suspected of illicit behaviour, his political career as well as ambitions could not allow him to be associated with her any more. In simple words, the holder of public office should have unquestionable integrity and morality. This is, and should be, the yardstick for the rulers and representatives of people ascending to the highest echelons of power in Pakistan and elsewhere.

On July 28, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court unanimously delivered its judgment in the Panamagate case, disqualifying the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, for not being “honest” under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and Article 99(f) of the Representation of the Peoples Act due to non-disclosure of his employment in Capital FZE, and chairman of its board on a salary in his nomination papers of 2013 general elections. It also ordered the main accountability body to subsequently file references against the disqualified prime minister, his three children, son-in-law Captain (retired) Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Thus, the cases of alleged corruption and money-laundering have been sent to the National Accounability Bureau (NAB) which is the proper forum for prosecution in the light of evidence collected by the six-member Joint Investigation Team.

After being declared ineligible to hold office by the Supreme Court, Nawaz Sharif has railed against the decision, calling it a deep and dark conspiracy. He reached his hometown Lahore on the heels of the Panamagate verdict in a bombproof container while addressing a crowd at the Grand Trunk Road while being flanked by PML-N lawmakers and party heavyweights. While his convoy was en route to Lahore, he directed his guns against the military and the judiciary alike as the disqualified and disgraced Nawaz Sharif considers his ouster from the office of prime minister as a conspiracy against him by the establishment — which was only executed by judges. This is both inaccurate and misleading. It was a case of corruption, money-laundering and accumulation of assets, establishment of a vast business empire and offshore companies disproportionate to known sources of income of the Sharif family.

All the respondents failed to present credible evidence to prove their innocence. Was it the establishment that asked Nawaz Sharif to conceal his assets in his nomination papers? Was it the establishment that pressured him not to declare his “Iqama” (residence permit) in his declaration papers filed ahead of the general elections in 2013?

Did the establishment get the records of Chaudhry Sugar Mills tampered by Zafar Hijazi, the ex-head of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)?

Did the establishment coax Nawaz Sharif to produce evidentiary material like the Qatari letter?

Was it the establishment that compelled the Sharif family to ask their defence lawyers to adopt an evasive approach and produce bogus documents in court?

This leads us to infer that it is a figment of his own imagination. The establishment, in fact, has nothing to do with the judgment delivered by the top court of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2017.

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