The National Accountably Court hearing two references against ousted prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif announced its anxiously-awaited verdict on Monday. He has been handed seven years jail sentence and a fine of $2.5 million in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, and acquitted in the Flagship Investments case. The decision holds little surprise, though its merits will be discussed for quite some time as it gives both the Nawaz Leaguers and others something to argue about. The party had prepared for an adverse outcome, declaring that in such an eventuality it would launch a protest campaign both inside and outside Parliament. Its activists had gathered in large numbers outside the federal judicial complex, throwing stones at the police and inviting tear gas shelling. Not much trouble is expected on the streets, however.
Although he goes back to jail, as regards the legal process, it is not the end of the road for Sharif. He is expected to seek suspension of sentence to obtain bail. Even if the bail effort fails, he is to go into appeal against the accountability court's verdict in the Islamabad High Court, and in the event of an unfavourable outcome, onwards to the Supreme Court. He can, however, draw some solace from the fact that so far his chosen heir, daughter Maryam Nawaz, earlier arrested along with him in the Avenfield case, stays free. It is a trying time for the PML-N. At present, the supreme leader's younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, presides over the party, but a question mark hangs over his head, too. He is currently facing NAB investigations. Whatever the future holds for the two brothers who have led the party for over three decades, the PML-N is going to remain a significant political player, representing certain important interests.
Practicably, the party leaders have strongly criticised the verdict, terming it a black mark on the country's political history and an example of political victimization. Coincidently, the same day a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, hearing the Omni Group's fake accounts case at its Lahore Registry sent alarm bells ringing for the PPP. Ordering freezing of the Group's assets, the court issued notices to the party leader Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and some others. The PPP has also cried foul. In fact, for quite a while both parties have been accusing the NAB of resorting to selective accountability in collusion with the government, among whose ranks, they say, are several people who face inquiry on account of corruption charges and yet are shown leniency. The nature of the two sides' cases may be different, but the PTI government spokesmen seem to lend credibility to the collusion allegation when they repeatedly make nasty comments against opposition leaders or express opinions on what might lie in store for them. There was absolutely no need, for instance, for the Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry to opine just a day before the NAB court gave the present verdict that he expected a "landmark" decision, going on to call the likely joining of hands by the PML-N and PPP an alliance of "Thugs of Pakistan." Such rants only muddy the waters. The PTI, however, is not about to stop harping on its single string. That makes it all the more important for the NAB to be seen acting in an evenhanded manner against all suspects, irrespective of who they are and what party they belong to.