Panama Papers: Will Nawaz Sharif live to fight another day?
ISLAMABAD : As Pakistan's Prime Minister grapples with the fallout of an investigating team’s report questioning the financial dealings of his family, the question most people on the streets are asking is what will come first — Nawaz Sharif being forced to step down or the general elections, in which it is expected his PML-N party will do well and possibly return to power.
With the Supreme Court mulling over how to move ahead after the Joint Investigation Team submitted its report on the Sharif family’s offshore assets on Monday, the premier and his close aides have held a series of meetings to chalk out the PML-N’s future strategy.
The premier’s younger brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, federal ministers and other aides, including Sharif’s legal wizards, joined such a meeting on Tuesday where the legal defence for the Sharif family was finalised.
For the time being, the family’s legal team has come up with a three-pronged strategy to challenge the JIT’s report.
The first is to attack the JIT on its conduct. The second is to question the Supreme Court bench hearing the case related to the revelations in the Panama Papers leaks.
The third prong is that the legal team immediately files a review petition in case the apex court disqualifies Sharif and his family members.
The bottom line of this exercise is to buy time. Sharif wants to drag the issue into 2018, when he will call the general election.
By then, a number of projects — particularly power projects — will come online and the electorate, especially in Sharif's home province and stronghold of Punjab, will be able to see the benefits of the PML-N government.
As things stand, the JIT has submitted its report and the court will hold its next hearing on July 17. The JIT has recommended that the matter be turned over to the National Accountability Bureau for further proceedings.
But the JIT has no legal power to enforce its recommendations, and it is the Supreme Court that will to decide whether to turn the matter over to the NAB or indeed whether the prime minister can be disqualified.
Given the adversarial relationship between Sharif and the court, there is every chance that the premier may be disqualified within the next few months. If this happens, the government will operate without him till the next election.