{"id":10087,"date":"2017-07-30T22:29:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-30T16:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=10087"},"modified":"2017-07-30T22:29:59","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T16:59:59","slug":"sharifs-ouster-dangerous-pakistan-writes-barkha-dutt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=10087","title":{"rendered":"Why Sharif\u2019s ouster is dangerous for Pakistan Writes Barkha Dutt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barkha Dutt<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

In May 2013 after his electoral victory, Nawaz Sharif\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0something that for years, no Pakistani leader had dared to express. Sharif told me, \u201ccivilian supremacy over the military is a must.\u201d He went a step further and said, \u201cThe prime minister is the boss, not the army chief. This is what the constitution says. We all have to live within the four walls of the constitution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This week, Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court\u00a0disqualified<\/a>\u00a0Sharif for life, ostensibly because his three children were named in the Panama Papers and were charged with having undeclared properties abroad through offshore companies. Ultimately, he was found guilty on a technicality unrelated to the Panama Papers.<\/em><\/p>\n

But was Sharif\u2019s dismissal written into the script the day he asserted his civilian rights? Sharif seems to be paying the price for trying to restore some authority to the office of the prime minister. He also took on a foreign policy agenda that was inimical to the shadowy Pakistani security establishment that has often used terrorist groups as strategic assets against both India and Afghanistan. Earlier this year, amid spiraling tensions between India and Pakistan, \u00a0Sharif told me he was attempting a renewed rapprochement; his India policy is certainly one reason why he was disliked by his army.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharif\u2019s ouster is being celebrated by some as an example of Pakistan upholding the best democratic values of accountability. \u201cIt\u2019s the biggest victory for the rule of law in Pakistan\u2019s history,\u201d said Naeem Ul-Haque, of the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Haque is an aide to glamorous cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan \u2014\u00a0the main petitioner in the case demanding action against Sharif. \u201cRule of law is the spirit of democracy,\u201d Haque insisted.<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, this verdict is the exact opposite. It weakens the country\u2019s tenuous democracy and allows its all-powerful army to grab power without having to formally seize it. Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court did not even permit Sharif the benefit of a legal trial, accepting instead the findings of an investigative panel, on which two of the six members were from the same military establishment that wanted his exit. \u201cThis is a judicial coup,\u201d Husain Haqqani, Pakistan\u2019s former ambassador to the United States, said to me in an interview. \u201cHad this been about corruption, there would have been a trial, not direct intervention by the Supreme Court, which should only be the court of final appeal in criminal matters. The military in Pakistan knows the difficulties of a military coup, so now hidden powers are using the judiciary.\u201d The Supreme Court of Pakistan has validated previous military coups citing what it calls the \u201cdoctrine of necessity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Indeed, in Pakistan, the military is the ventriloquist and politicians are the puppets. No elected prime minister has completed a full term.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Sharif won in 2013, it was the first peaceful transition of power from one elected government to another. But even Sharif\u2019s predecessor and opponent, Asif Ali Zardari, had to live with his government\u2019s prime minister being ousted by the Supreme Court. Sharif himself has been sacked twice before as prime minister; in 1993, he was ousted by the president, and in 1999, his army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, seized power in a brazen takeover. Musharraf\u2019s hijacking of the government was the third successful army takeover in Pakistan. Since then, many Pakistanis have argued that their nation is \u201cpost-coup.\u201d \u00a0Sharif\u2019s ouster proves that claim is a lie.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharif\u2019s \u00a0has been sent home \u2014 not because of \u00a0\u201cPanama Gate\u201d but because, believe it or not, he failed to be \u201csadiq\u201d and \u201cameen,\u201d or truthful and trustworthy. These vaguely worded criteria, borrowed from Arabic, were brought into law by another military dictator, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, under the contentious clauses of Articles 62 and 63 of Pakistan\u2019s constitution. A godsend for military authoritarianism, these arbitrary provisions are meant to benchmark morally upright leaders and disqualify them if needed. Sharif, the court says, was untruthful about not drawing a salary of 10,000 dirhams a month (about $2,700) as chairman of a Dubai-based company (Capital FZE) owned by his son, until nearly a year after assuming office. Sharif\u2019s lawyers argued that this involved an Emirati work permit procured during the years Musharraf forced him into exile. Investigators insist Sharif did not declare this additional income; the former Prime minister argued that he never used the money.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now contrast these relatively small charges with\u00a0Musharraf, \u00a0who stands accused of high treason as well as having a role in the murder of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The military weighed in, and Musharraf was allowed to leave the country with the permission of the courts.<\/em><\/p>\n

This glaring double standard is what undermines Pakistan\u2019s democracy. \u201cIt is a populist judgment, which has opened the doors for the disqualification of politicians on flimsy grounds,\u201d warns Asma Jahangir, one of Pakistan\u2019s most respected lawyers. \u201cIt is highly flawed in procedure and substance.\u201d Jahangir told me she understand the concern over corruption and conceded that the Sharif family \u2014 with huge business interests in steel and sugar \u2014 would have to address these questions, but added: \u201cWhat \u00a0is the hurry; why the short cuts? He has a right to due process.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharif\u2019s political opponents, such as Khan, may be rejoicing at his ouster. But Pakistani friends say he should know that this verdict sets a dangerous precedent. Tomorrow it could be Khan.\u00a0 Pakistanis speak of the army\u2019s \u201cMinus-3 Formula,\u201d meaning that the military has already pushed three major national leaders \u2014\u00a0Altaf Hussain, Sharif and Zardari \u2014\u00a0into oblivion. \u00a0 It\u2019s official: Pakistan\u2019s military no longer needs martial law to control the nation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning TV journalist and anchor with more than two decades of reporting experience. She is the author of \u201cThis Unquiet Land: Stories from India\u2019s Fault Lines.\u201d Dutt is based in New Delhi.\u00a0Follow @bdutt<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Courtesy: Washington Post<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barkha Dutt In May 2013 after his electoral victory, Nawaz Sharif\u00a0said\u00a0something that for years, no Pakistani leader had dared to express. Sharif told me, \u201ccivilian supremacy over the military is a must.\u201d He went a step further and said, \u201cThe prime minister is the boss, not the army chief. This is what the constitution says. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}