Judge’s removal

The judge who convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif over corruption has been dismissed. Arshad Mailk, a district and sessions judge, was found guilty of misconduct on Friday on the basis of a year-long investigation into a video released by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz in July 2019 showing the judge ‘admitting’ that he sentenced Sharif, her father, under duress. While this dismissal — by a seven-member administrative committee of the Lahore High Court — underscores the urgent need to carry out judicial reforms, it is also bound to have legal and political consequences, according to legal experts.

The video scandal involving a senior judge of the lower courts indicates a complete decadence at least in the lower tier of the judiciary. While it raises questions on the integrity of the justice system, it also casts doubts over the quality and impartiality of the accountability process going on in the country, given that the judge in question had been posted in the accountability court. In the words of an expert, “it would be unfortunate if the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Law wait any longer” to go about reforming the system.

The guilty verdict against the judge has put a big question mark on the legitimacy of the judgments passed by him, most notable of which involved Sharif, the thee-time prime minister. Sharif’s political fate stands sealed under the Supreme Court’s Panama Papers judgment of July 2017 whereby the veteran politician was disqualified from holding public office for life for not declaring the receivables from a ceremonial job in his son’s UAE-based company. However, his fate in three corruption references borne out of the Panamagate proceedings — two of which were decided by the dismissed judge — is still in limbo, going through the appeals stage of the judicial process. This is where Sharif can expect relief.

In case Sharif is acquitted of the corruption charges based on the judge’s dismissal, it would bring dire political consequences for the PTI whose mandate centres around carrying out impartial accountability, and nipping the corruption in the bud thereby. Why wouldn’t then the PML-N sell Sharif’s ‘innocence’ for political gains?

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2020.

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