Review petition decision renders government credibility questionable: experts

The government itself has questioned credibility of the apex court by anticipating the decision of review petition through which it wants to assure the PML (N) to end the disqualification of Sharif brothers from holding any elected office, experts say.
Qamar Zaman Kaira, Federal Minister for Information and Kashmir Affairs, on Sunday reiterated governments resolve to knock the doors of Supreme Court to convince the Sharif brothers on the possible retreat on disqualification. "This is an attempt to defuse the ongoing crisis that has already reached a point of no return," experts said, and added that this assurance "is eyewash only".
But after saying that disqualification of Sharifs could be addressed by filing a review petition, the government itself has raised serious doubts about the credibility of SC.
This proposal of the government is neither acceptable to Sharif brothers nor practical at this juncture due to several reasons, experts say. It is also pertinent to mention here that the Sharif brothers did not appear before the SC bench, saying that they did not acknowledge the judges as they had taken oath under PCO.
There are certain other reasons as well. Eighteen days have passed, and the court has not given detailed judgement, mandatory for filing review petition. And, according to rules of business of SC, review petition is heard by the very same bench. A new bench comprising other judges is not entitled to hear the review petiotion.
The government is also aware of the fact that Sharifs would not appear before the court again and it would once again be in a position to blame them for the ongoing crisis in the country.
It is also a fact that it was the Federation which challenged disqualification of Sharifs in June 2008. At defining moments of the case, Deputy Attorney General, representing the Federation, did not present any solid reason for filing the petition, and said that the federation was a party during the proceedings at LHC. Therefore it had come to the SC.
If the decision would not come in favour of Sharifs, the government would say that the court was not under its influence. This would be a political death of the PML (N) leadership. They would not be able to face the people after the decision of the review petition, offered by the government.
Some experts say that keeping all these factors in mind it becomes quite obvious that the governments offer of filing review petition is not practical. It has done nothing except strengthening doubts about Supreme Courts loyalty to the President.