The two-member election tribunal comprising Judges of Lahore High Court on Saturday referred to Chief Election Commissioner the election petitions filed against Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif as both Judges failed to decide these petitions, having different opinion in the matter.
The tribunal, comprising Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi and Justice Hafiz Tariq Nasim, had reserved the verdict on Friday, and announced it here on Saturday at 11.30 am. Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi had not written his separate note till the filling of this report 9.00 pm.
The nominations of PML-N chief Muhammad Nawaz Sharif were challenged from NA-52 and NA-123 by Raja Noor Elahi, Nasir Raja, Khurman Shah and Shahid Orkzai and Shahbaz Sharif's from PP-10, PP-48, PP124, PP-141 and PP-154 by Azhar Lodhi, Zulfiqar Ghuman, Khuram Shah, Mehboob Elahi, Shahid Orkzai and Naeem Shahzad.
Justice Hafiz Tarqi Nasim in his separate note said: "Viewing the present case from all angles I hold that the right to contest election is a fundamental right of a citizen of Pakistan and no one can deprive any citizen to enjoy this fundamental right because every citizen has an inalienable right to enjoy the protection of law and to be treated in accordance with law and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or prosperity of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law.
Accordingly the appeals having no force are dismissed and the impugned orders passed by the Returning Officers whereby Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif were declared qualified to contest elections are upheld."
He said that during the course of arguments the main emphasis of the appellants, which was repeatedly argued, revolved around the allegation of maligning, defaming and abusing the judiciary by Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and it was forcefully argued that even if all the grounds, taken against them, were ignored, this only ground was sufficient for their disqualification.
On the face of it, the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellants in this respect seem convincing but this Court/Tribunal, while deciding the present controversy, should not make it a matter of personal prestige, rather the foremost duty bestowed on the Court/Tribunal is to do justice, keeping aside the personal allegations and annoyance.
"If at all it is accepted that Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif are defaming/abusing the present judiciary even then it is my foremost duty ordained by Allah to keep aside the conduct of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif and to do justice independent of that and I opted to overlook this allegation and to proceed further," the Judge said.
Commenting on the allegation separately, he said that so far as the sentence/conviction is concerned, the documentary evidence reveals the same but simultaneously there is undisputed fact that the then President of Pakistan in exercise of his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution pardoned them.
The issue, which is to be decided that whether a pardon accorded by the President of Pakistan washes away only sentence and not the conviction as according to the learned counsel for the appellants the conviction could only be set aside by the Court of law and not by the President.
No other conclusion can be drawn except that the President of Pakistan, being authorised by the Constitution, can exonerate any citizen of Pakistan from any allegation which is under dispute before him and in the present controversy the President of Pakistan when exercised his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution pardoned Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif then the matter being a past and closed chapter cannot be reopened.
So far as the allegations of default in bank accounts is concerned, no proof in support of this allegation is annexed with the appeals and is well settled law that the Tribunal's proceedings being a quasiidicial proceedings, the onus to prove the same is on the shoulders of the appellants which admittedly they did not discharge.
Hence this allegation cannot be taken into consideration only on the strength of the photocopies/cuttings of certain newspapers. The petitioners said the accountability court had declared Nawaz Sharif disqualified for 21 years from of seeking or being elected, chosen, appointed as member or representative of any public office or any authority of the Local Government of Pakistan.
Sharif could not contest the election because an Anti-Terrorism Court, under section 402-B of the PPC read with section 7 of ATA had awarded him life imprisonment and fine of Rs 500,000. They added that his conviction as well as the sentence was upheld by the learned appellate court in special criminal appeal.
Besides, he was convicted by an accountability court, Attock Fort, in a reference decided on July 2007 under section 10 read with Section 9-A (V) of the NAB Ordinance was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 14 years and fine for Rs 20 million, they said. The appellants said in both cases, Sharif had been convicted by competent courts and the convictions were still intact because these were not set aside by any court till date.
The appellants said Sharif was also a defaulter of consortium of National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Ltd, United Bank Ltd, Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan, Muslim Commercial Bank, Picic Bank of Punjab and the first Punjab Mudaraba.
Assailing the candidature of Nawaz Sharif appellants submitted that he ditched the court by claiming that he fulfilled qualification to contest the election in line with Article 62 of the constitution. They also said Mian Shahbaz had passed derogative remarks against the judiciary and was also involved in Supreme Court storm case.
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