PML-N bigwigs weigh judicial challenge

Party to make final decision on former PM’s course of action on Thursday

LAHORE: With the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ruling out the possibility of submitting an indemnity bond, the only available option with the party, considering former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s deteriorating health, was to approach the court against the government’s decision, party sources have revealed.

The PML-N has called a high-level meeting on Thursday to discuss and review the legal options available and take a final decision on the matter. According to the party, the final decision will be made by the former prime minister in consultation with his family.

A party leader, talking to The Express Tribune, revealed that there were currently two options available with the Sharif family.



The first option with former premier Nawaz Sharif or the Sharif family, he said, was to stay back in the country and accept this ‘lawlessness’, while the second option was to challenge the decision in court and hope for a quick trial.

He said the party had already ruled out submitting a bond despite Nawaz Sharif’s deteriorating health. Besides, he said, the time frame given by the government was also not acceptable as there was no guarantee Nawaz Sharif’s health would improve in four weeks’ time and, if it did not, the party had no assurance the government would extend the four-week deadline. He termed it a trap which the PML-N would not fall into.

He further said that Nawaz Sharif was the country’s only prime minister to have waived his immunity in the Panama case trial and its only leader to have returned to serve prison time. Why then, he questioned, would the government ask for assurances unless it was to make a mockery of his health.

He said Nawaz Sharif had, of his own accord, taken the principled position of not accepting any illegal conditions, adding that, if the party did not get immediate relief from the court, he would prefer to stay back in the country.



According to legal expert Barrister Ali Zafar, the PML-N currently had two options – submitting a bond and later challenging the government’s decision or not paying the bond and challenging the decision.

He said that, given the existing circumstances, if the PML-N decided to approach the court, the trial would be completed fairly quickly as the courts were cognizant of the state of the former prime minister’s health.

He also said that, as far as its decision to demand an indemnity bond was concerned, the government did not have the legal backing for it and, therefore, it would be hard for the government to defend it in court.

The government, he continued, wanted to safeguard its own position and ensure Nawaz Sharif’s return to face the courts after treatment but, despite the apparent good motive, it would still have to defend its position in the light of the legal framework, adding that, given the fact that laws were silent on the matter, the court would have the final say.

Given the past record, he said, of a Sharif family member not returning to Pakistan to face the courts, the government’s concerns were not unfounded.

When asked if the government had, by design, included the condition of submission of an indemnity bond so the PML-N would be compelled to take the matter to court, thus vindicating them of responsibility in light of the political repercussions, he opined that that could have been one of the reasons behind adding the condition.

Regarding the indemnity bond, PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said the PML-N had rejected the conditional removal of Nawaz Sharif's name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

She called the PTI government’s decision unlawful, unconstitutional and a manifestation of Imran Khan's vengeful and prejudicial mindset. In a statement, Marriyum said the PML-N had already very clearly stated its stance that it would not submit any such bond.

She clarified that all legal and constitutional requirements had been fulfilled at the time of Nawaz's bail including surety bonds. This decision of conditional ECL exemption, she said, was incomprehensible and unprecedented in the history of the country and is only a reflection of how far the PTI could go in its quest for political victimisation.



Marriyum also said PTI regime's deceptive tactics of acknowledging Nawaz's critical condition while jeopardising his life with delaying tactics is highly condemnable.

She said the government must realise the gravity of the situation instead of playing a dangerous political game over his ailment.

Marriyum said it is sad that the person who left his wife on the death bed to return to face the courts was being asked to submit surety bonds. She said the PTI was trying to get illegal and unconstitutional ransom by exploiting the medical complications of an ailing person, alleging the PTI regime was trying to act supreme to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in sheer contempt of the judiciary.

She said doctors, after their consultation board, had concluded that the high dose of steroids given to the PML-N chief twice for travel had had extremely negative effects on his health. This, she said, could not be allowed to happen again as the high dose of steroids given to boost Nawaz's platelets had had adverse effects on other medical complications faced by the former prime minister.