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Journalism of Courage
In politics more than in anything else, what goes around seems to come around — and quickly. In this respect, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s disqualification by the country’s Election Commission is a cautionary tale — do not do unto your enemies what you may not want them to do unto you.
Five years after Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification from holding office following his conviction in a case relating to the Panama papers — a case that the Pakistan Supreme Court took up on Imran’s petitions — Imran himself has been disqualified for “making “false statements and incorrect declarations” in a matter pertaining to the sale of certain items from the government’s toshakhana into which all gifts and presents from foreign dignitaries or governments to the head of government or other high officials must be deposited, if they are above a certain value.
Improper, perhaps not illegal
The complaint against Imran is that while he did not deposit many gifts that he received during his time in office to the Treasury (the store is under its jurisdiction), he “illegally” sold some gifts which he had retained after paying the government a percentage of the value — and made a profit from this sale.
The items included a Graff watch gifted to him by the Saudi Arabian crown prince, Rolex watches, expensive cufflinks, a valuable pen and a ring.
While the sale itself may not be illegal because the items belonged to Imran as he had paid for them, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has disqualified him for not declaring the sale or the money made from it. There is more than a whiff of impropriety in the sale of such an item for personal profit by a person who has held high office. Also, under-invoicing is routine when a functionary buys the gifts he wishes to retain.
In 2016, Nawaz was ousted from the prime ministership for not declaring assets. Though the allegation was thin, the Supreme Court bounced him out for not being sadiq and ameen, a provision of the Constitution that sets “sagacity and honesty” as two eligibility requirements for holding elected office. He was later disqualified for life by a five-judge bench that included the present Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
His Parliament seat lost
The legal eagles of Imran’s party are in the process of moving court to challenge the application of the provision of the Constitution to his case, as well as whether the Election Commission is the right forum to take up the reference under that provision. Meanwhile, the ruling has set off protests across Pakistan.
It is not clear yet for how long Imran has been disqualified, but it effectively ends his membership of Parliament which he won last week.
In April, Imran and most of his party members declared they had resigned from Parliament in protest against his ouster as Prime Minister. The ECP determined that only eight seats had been vacated, and byelections were held last week.
Imran, whose popularity graph has been on the rise since his ouster, contested from seven of these to prove a point, and swept all seven. While he had shown scant respect for Parliament or its procedures while in office, Imran claimed the victories were a referendum on his popularity.
What happens now?
The electoral confirmation made Imran even more confident of his prospects. As he has demonstrated since being voted out of office in April, he will fight back with everything he has got. In his book, that has always meant a call to his supporters to take to the streets.
In 2016, Imran got the Supreme Court to hear his case only after threatening a siege of Islamabad by his supporters. He also had the Army pushing his case then. Evidence has emerged since then of the behind-the-scenes role played by the security establishment in unseating Nawaz.
This time, Imran does not have the Army on his side. But he believes he can ride on his popularity, at least for now. His first response to the ECP ruling was to ask people to come out of their homes and protest the verdict.
The Pakistan Army is currently preparing for a transition at the top. General Qamar Javed Bajwa, whom Imran has been attacking openly as a key “conspirator” behind his ouster, is retiring at the end of November. It is not ruled out that Imran is in touch with his probable successors. A favourable ending for him in the disqualification saga may well depend on his relations with the next chief.
