Nawaz Sharif is out as prime minister of Pakistan.
Pakistan faces political turmoil as the country’s Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office on Friday over undeclared assets brought to light in the 2016 Panama Papers leak. The democratically elected leader becomes the latest Prime Minister not to have completed a five-year term in office, in a country where civilian governments are often toppled by Pakistan’s powerful military, which has governed the country for approximately half of its 69-year-history.
The disqualification of Sharif—who was elected to the office three times, each with huge landslide victories—raises serious concerns over Pakistan’s road to democracy, as his ouster creates a political vacuum in the country that can be filled anytime by a military-backed government. In the past, resignations of prime ministers on allegations of corruption and wrongdoing have been followed by periods of dictatorship either led or supported by members of Pakistan’s military. In November 1996, for instance, the country’s only female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was disqualified by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations brought forth by her political rival. This led to a period of dictatorship in Pakistan, destroying the progress made by previous civilian governments to protect democratic rights of its citizens.
While it is true that Sharif is no saint, the story of his disqualification is not simple. As per the latest verdict of the apex court, Nawaz Sharif is not explicitly guilty of corruption but of violating Articles 62 and 63 of Pakistan’s constitution, which order office-holders and legislative members to be “sadiq” and “ameen”—vague terms for being honest and morally upright Muslims. These unexplained terms were written into the country’s constitution by a past military dictatorship and have often been deployed to intimidate political rivals. Interestingly, the Supreme Court has previously criticized the vagueness of the terms even as it now cites them in its disqualification of Sharif. “There is no definition of sadiq and ameen in Article 260 of the Constitution — a provision that provides description and meaning of words used in the green book,” observed Justice Dost Mohammad Khan after receiving petitions to disqualify Nawaz Sharif in 2014.
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementThe joint investigation team assembled to probe Sharif’s sources of wealth included two members of Pakistan’s military establishment, who were also responsible for investigating a news leak that significantly impaired relations between the military and Nawaz Sharif’s government. Najam Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, an English language weekly in Pakistan, noted the lack of impartiality of those responsible for investigating allegations of corruption.
It is now clear that the military establishment is firmly in control of this project. The two gentlemen from the ISI and MI in this JIT are the same two who led the JIT investigations in the Dawn leaks case that created a serious rift between the civil and military leaders. Now we learn that all the “coordinators” are also from the same sort of military sources. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong in seeking such help. After all, civilians are wont to clutch at the military whenever they doubt their own neutrality or ability, as for example in critical help in conducting a census or in overseeing general elections. But the current case is of a different nature. We know that Mr Sharif is intensely disliked by the military establishment for one reason or another. A cursory overview of serving and recently retired military officers will testify to their bristling hostility against him even if the current top brass is not so overly inclined. Under the circumstances, the government has every right to demand that the JIT should not only do justice but also appear to be doing so. We are, after all, investigating a popularly elected leader who has won the confidence of the people of Pakistan and been prime minister twice before and, going by current polls, is poised to win again in 2018.Advertisement Advertisement
The Supreme Court of Pakistan that now adjudicates on the moral fiber of the country’s leadership is also the same body that has legally sanctioned every military coup to take place in Pakistan. Judges who went against these rulings were often made to retire, while the apex court ruled in favor of removing elected governments and even sentenced one prime minister to death on the behest of a military dictator. The ousted Sharif, who managed to push for peace with India in spite of criticism from the military and supported the restoration of Supreme Court and lower court judges suspended by military dictators, is their latest victim as democracy struggles to take root in Pakistan.
Tweet Share Share Comment(责任编辑:新闻中心)
- Best smart home deals this week
- Minister calls for 3rd US
- Myanmar and Bangladesh reach agreement to send Rohingya refugees home.
- Winning the only thing to ease Europa exit pain: Arsenal's Arteta
- What Ever Happened to Flickr?
- 'Terminator Zero' creators find fresh life in sci
- New FM bets on firm relations with Washington for Pyongyang’s denuclearization
- 2017中国西部国际博览会进出口商品展 我市展位面积达1032平方米
- @北京市民,2000公斤茂名荔枝搭乘2024邮航专线首飞来京
- Republicans on abortion
- Facebook and Instagram struggle with major outage
- Elon Musk shares a video of The Boring Company's first finished tunnel
- 2017中国西部国际博览会进出口商品展 我市展位面积达1032平方米
-
17 Places That Harness the Power of the Sun
As we begin the journey down the path of totality in 2024, the eclipse offers the perfect opportunit ...[详细] -
金秋9月,桂花飘香。2017年9月9日,建行名山支行在人行名山支行的带领下,与辖内其他金融同业在红草村茶叶交易市场针对茶农、茶商开展了2017年反假货币、不宜流通人民币纸币的集中宣传活动。我行针对宣传 ...[详细]
-
National Medical Center preps for mass vaccinations
NMC runs a vaccination trial Tuesday afternoon. (Yonhap)The National Medical Center, which will be a ...[详细] -
Neville backs fans after protests forces Liverpool postponement
MANCHESTER:Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville backed the angry fans whose dramatic prote ...[详细] -
18 Places for Epic Outdoor Adventure Across Colorado
The Centennial State is an outdoorsy dream, with hiking, mountain-biking, skiing, kayaking, birding ...[详细] -
据有关资料显示,道路交通事故已成为当前导致儿童伤亡的“头号杀手”,我国每年有1.85万名儿童在交通事故中伤亡。近2个月来,仅雨城区境内就发生4起交通事故,造成3名小孩死亡,一名小孩受伤。为此,交警呼吁 ...[详细]
-
'The Cleaners' shows why human content moderators can't be outsourced
"Out of sight, out of mind" doesn't work when cleaning out the darkest corners of social media platf ...[详细] -
Myanmar and Bangladesh reach agreement to send Rohingya refugees home.
Myanmar and Bangladesh announced a tentative deal Thursday to, at least symbolically, address the Ro ...[详细] -
Moeko Fujii ,July 18, 2024 The Eyes of Lac ...[详细]
-
500家企业参会!2024第五届食材供应链国际大会在惠州举行
500家企业参会!2024第五届食材供应链国际大会在惠州举行_南方+_南方plus5月23日,由中国物流与采购联合会主办,中国物流与采购联合会食材供应链分会、广东新供销天业冷链集团有限公司以及广东供销 ...[详细]
What to expect when a tech bubble bursts
'Darkest building on Earth' is at 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang
- The Weird, Wonderful World of Water Towers
- Myanmar and Bangladesh reach agreement to send Rohingya refugees home.
- Facebook kept removing his fake Green New Deal ad, so now he's running for office
- 普通商品住宅供应不足
- NYT mini crossword answers for August 29
- FM Chung, Blinken stress close cooperation for complete denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
- Chelsea to allow fans into board meetings after Super League row