Nawaz Sharif
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Career
1990-2018
In 2018 he was sent to jail for 10 years for graft
From: Omer Farooq Khan, Omer Farooq Khan, Ahead of polls, ousted Pak PM Sharif gets 10 years’ jail for graft, July 7, 2018: The Times of India
See graphic :
Mr Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister of Pakistan three times between 1990-2018
In 2018 he was sent to jail for 10 years for graft
A career in politics
A chequered career
From The Times of India
From The Times of India
Inclined to better ties with India
Rajeev Deshpande|Pak SC Says PM Not Sharif, Delhi On Guard|Jul 29 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Nawaz Tried Peace But Army, Kashmir Issue Proved A Hurdle
A wily and deft politician, Mian Nawaz Sharif is not immune to playing the Kashmir card as he did after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani.But he did show an inclination to better ties with India.
The impulse, even if haltingly pursued, marked the efforts of the civilian government to push normalisation in ties, which Sharif 's aides feel the leader had come around to believe a necessity in the interests of Pakistan and, more particularly, his province of Punjab as it could benefit from border trade.
These possibilities will remain untested as the judiciary and Pakistan's powerful military came together to unseat the civilian government and humiliate Sharif, who is closest to being a pan Pakistan leader.
As with most politicians who make it to the top in Pakistan, Sharif has not been averse to strike deals with the army and his initial ascent was seen as blessed by a Punjabi-dominated army . But as he grew in stature as PM, he sought greater control over the levers of power; possibly a grave error of judgment.
Despite the military's veto on relations with India, Sharif 's bid to engage India, including hosting PM Narendra Modi for a politically risky lunch in Lahore in 2015, was a hopeful enterprise until jihadis despatched by the Pakistan army to carry out attacks in India put paid to the peace moves.
His dethronement is likely to strongly discourage any successor to essay serious talks with India and gestures are unlikely to go much beyond exchange of fishermen and the occasional civilian who strays across the border.
Though the Pakistan army is seen to have brought Sharif down, it is not expect ed to take up the reins of government directly as the country's problems, not the least its economic management, are extremely chal lenging and the generals may be happy with a political buffer who understands his place in the pecking order.
In the past, the premise that a military dictator can better deliver the goods in terms of ties with India has not always held true.
Former president Pervez Musharraf has claimed that he was close to an understanding with former PM Manmohan Singh before, ironically enough, the Supreme Court turfed him out.
The theory will remain untested as the essential DNA of the Pakistan army has shown no signs of change and the institution -despite lack of military success against India and the baleful effect it has on democracy in Pakistan -is wedded to a hostile policy against its eastern neighbour.
In the immediate scenario, India-Pakistan relations are not expected to move beyond the routine and in fact could be rocky given the Pakistan army's efforts to stoke terrorism and separatism in Kashmir.
The SC’s verdict of 2017
Brother, Punjab CM Shahbaz, To Succeed Him
In a landmark verdict in the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office for life over money laundering, concealment of wealth and establishing offshore assets and companies.
The PM House issued a no tification stating Sharif, despite having “strong reservations“ over the verdict, has quit his post. At a meeting of stalwarts of Sharif 's party PML(N) and its coalition partners held at PM House, his brother and Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif was chosen his successor, sources said.
Sharif 's daughter Maryam Nawaz, considered his political heir, has been ruled out for the top post as she has also been indicted along with her brothers and her husband.
However, PML(N) will have to opt for a stop-gap PM for at least seven weeks, till Shahbaz gets himself elected to the national assembly and becomes PM after quitting as CM. PML (N) said the next PM's name will be announced in 24 hours. The unanimous verdict by a five-judge bench, delivered in a packed courtroom, unseats Sharif from premiership for the third time and denies him the opportunity to become the country's first PM to complete a full five-year term. Nawaz Sharif, unseated as Pakistan PM by the Supreme Court on Friday , followed 17 PMs before him who were removed unceremoniously from office in Pakistan. Directing election commission of Pakistan to issue a notification disqualifying Sharif from being an MP with immediate effect, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, speaking in a packed courtroom, said: “PM Sharif had been dishonest to the parliament and the courts. The larger bench has unanimously deemed him unfit for holding office.“
The court also ordered an accountability court to open references against Sharif and his family . It ordered the National Accountability Bureau to wrap up the case in six months. The court also disqualified finance minister Ishaq Dar and Maryam's husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar.
According to the verdict, all material collected by the investigators tasked to probe Sharif family's financial dealings has to be sent to an accountability court within six weeks. The judgement said that cases would be opened against Sharif, Maryam, his two sons Hassan and Hussain, Capt (retd) Safdar and Ishaq Dar “on the basis of this information“.
While Sharif 's spokesperson vowed to utilise all legal and constitutional options to contest the verdict, attorney general Ashtar Ausaf said: “There is no law to file any appeal against this judgment.“
Taking up the Panama Papers case in January this year, the SC bench had given a 3-2 decision in the case on April 20. While two judges had recommended Sharif 's disqualification, three had determined that the available evidence was insufficient to disqualify him and had ordered the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the case and collect evidence within two months.
The JIT had submitted its investigation report in the court on July 10 found the Sharif family guilty of perjury , tampering documents and concealing their sources of income.
Family in politics
HIGHLIGHTS
Sharif may also have "shattered the dreams" of Shahbaz's son Hamza Sharif, his party members said
Hamza was looking to be given Punjab by his dad who was to take over as prime minister.
"Nawaz played excellent family politics," said one party member
NEW DELHI: Did disqualified former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif+ prevent his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif from taking over+ the top government spot? That's what several key leaders in Sharif's PML-N party believe, reported Pakistani newspaper Dawn. Not only did the elder Sharif keep Shahbaz at bay, he may also have "shattered the dreams" of Shahbaz's son Hamza Sharif, who was looking to be given Punjab by his dad who everyone thought would take over as prime minister. Shahbaz is Punjab chief minister and the PML-N has a strong base in the province.
Sharif had said after his disqualification by the country's supreme court in the Panama Papers case that Shahbaz would be prime minister after an interim arrangement of 45 days. Now, though, a campaign has been set in motion that is spinning Shahbaz as being much needed in Punjab. PML-N leaders said all that's left is a formal announcement that Shahbaz won't be taking over as prime minister+ .
"Perhaps Shahbaz missed the golden chance of becoming premier... He has either failed to convince his elder brother or the latter played smart politics to keep him in Punjab," a PML-N leader who is close to Shahbaz told Dawn.
Another PML-N leader said that Sharif played some "excellent family politics" to keep Shahbaz away from the prime minister's post, after he himself was disqualified by the country's supreme court on corruption charges. "Nawaz played excellent family politics. First he announced Shahbaz his successor. Later a campaign within the PML-N was built that Shahbaz's absence from Punjab would be disastrous for the party," this leader told Dawn.
However, Malik Ahmad Khan, the spokesman of Punjab's PML-N government, denied there were any differences between the Sharif brothers saying the disqualification crisis had united them even more.
He did add though that the parliamentary party headed by the elder Sharif was authorised to announce it had gone back on its earlier decision to nominate Shahbaz for prime minister.
The Panama scandal
The Times of India
2017: Gets SC relief in Panama graft case
Omer Farooq Khan, Sharif gets SC relief in Panama graft case, April 21, 2017: The Times of India
Not enough Proof To Remove Him, Says Top Court, But Orders Joint Team To Probe Allegations
Embattled Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif got a temporary breather from the Supreme Court on Thursday that said there was “insufficient evidence“ to remove him from office but ordered setting up of a Joint Investigation Team to probe graft allegations against his family based on the Panama Papers.
The judgment also ordered Sharif and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, to appear before the JIT. The decision was celebrated by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), as it removed, for the time being, the fear of PM's removal from office. The main opposition parties, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party , however, called Sharif to resign, claiming that he was left with no moral authority to stay as PM until the completion of investigation. The decision of the fivejudge bench had two dissenting notes in t he 540-page verdict. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed ruled Sharif should be disqualified, whereas the other three, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, decided to form a JIT. The bench said the JIT, which will be constituted within seven days, had to complete the investigation in two months and would have to submit its report bi-weekly to a special bench of the SC to be constituted by the Chief Justice. The JIT, the verdict said, would include representatives from Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Fede ral Investigation Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The case stems from documents leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm, showing that Sharif 's daughter, Maryum Nawaz, and his two sons owned offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy properties in London. At least eight offshore companies were found to have links to the Sharif family .
Owning offshore companies is not illegal in Pakistan, but Sharif's opponents allege that he had bought properties in London by laundering money during his previous two terms as PM in 1990s. Sharif had argued he was not the owner and the money was in his children's names and he was therefore not obliged to declare the assets on tax and other disclosure documents. Moreover, he claimed it was raised through legitimate business deals, mostly based in Gulf nations.
PTI chief Imran Khan termed the decision “historic“ and asked Sharif to resign until the completion of the investigation. “The decision to probe corruption of Nawaz Sharif and his children means that whatever explanation he had given in the SC regarding the source of income and the money trail has been rejected,“ said Khan. Former president and Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari expressed doubts that junior officers working under Sharif cannot deliver justice as part of JIT when the highest court failed to deliver justice.
PM's aide to be sacked for leak
Tariq Fatemi, Pakistan PM's special assistant on foreign affairs, may be sacked after an inquiry found him guilty of “leaking“ to a newspaper vital data from a national security meet. In October, a columnist for Dawn wrote a story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India.
Gwadar leased to China co for 40 yrs
Pakistan's shipping minister Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said on Thursday that state-run China Overseas Port Holding Company would handle operations of the Gwadar port for a period of 40 years. The COPHC has 91% share of revenue collection from gross revenue of terminal and marine operations and 85% share from gross revenue of free zone operation, he said.
2018
Pak SC bans Sharif from politics for life
Omer Farooq Khan, April 14, 2018: The Times of India
In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday ruled that any person declared dishonest and not righteous by it is disqualified from politics or holding public office for life.
The ruling ended doubts about the duration of last year’s disqualification of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office for failing to disclose his assets and wealth before contesting the 2013 general elections.
The decision, read out by Justice Umar Ata Bandial of a five-member bench, stated that the disqualification of any member of Parliament or a public servant under Article 62
(f) of the Constitution in the future will be permanent. “Such a person cannot contest elections or become a member of Parliament,” the verdict read. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who was heading the bench, observed before the verdict that the public deserved leaders of good character.
The ruling also ended the political career of Jehangir Khan Tareen, a senior leader of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party. Tareen was disqualified late last year for not declaring his UK assets to tax authorities.
“A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless… he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate and honest, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law,” reads Article 62 (1) (f) of the Pakistani Constitution. Clauses of Article 62, requiring members of Parliament to be honest and righteous, were part of changes to the Constitution made by former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in March 1985 to concentrate powers with himself. In 2009 and 2010, when the then ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) proposed removal of Article 62, Nawaz Sharif had opposed it, believing the move would upset the powerful military establishment.
“Nawaz Sharif has been caught in his own trap as he himself had supported Article 62,” Khurshed Shah, leader of the opposition in National Assembly, told media after the Supreme Court decision.
Last year on July 28, the Supreme Court had disqualified Sharif for being dishonest for concealing in his nomination papers the receivable income from his son’s UAE company. Interestingly, his disqualification in the Panama papers leak case was not made on the basis of the corruption charges related to the scam. In February this year, the SC had disqualified the ex-PM from holding the party’s top slot.
Sharif is at present also facing dozens of corruption cases in the accountability court. Decisions in these cases are expected ahead of the general elections. The charges against him, if proven, could land him in jail for 21 years.
Sharif gets 10 years’ jail for graft
Daughter Gets 7-Yr Prison Term, Barred From Contesting Polls
A Pakistani court sentenced ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of upscale London flats, in a major blow to his party ahead of general elections on July 25.
The National Accountability Bureau court also convicted his daughter and son-inlaw. Daughter Maryam received seven years for abetting crime and one year for submitting forged documents in court — to run concurrently — while son-in-law Muhammad Safdar was given a one-year sentence for not co-operating.
Sharif, speaking in London a little after the verdict, said he would return to Pakistan after his ailing wife, Kulsoom, regains consciousness in a London hospital. “I wish to speak to Kulsoom before my return to Pakistan,” Sharif, accompanied by his daughter, said at a press conference in London. He said every possible tactic had been used against him and that this had no parallel in Pakistan’s history.
Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were found guilty in a corruption case related to the purchase by the Sharif family of four apartments in Avenfield House, in London’s Park Lane. The verdict was announced by judge Mohammad Bashir in a packed courtroom in Islamabad.
Sharif said he would continue his struggle till the vote was not given respect and the masses did not get their right to govern. “Why should we be the slaves of a selected few after gaining freedom from the British? I wish the same pace is adopted in the cases against those who violated the Constitution,” he said, referring to former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.
Maryam and her husband now stand disqualified from contesting the upcoming general election. Maryum was Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s candidate from a constituency in Lahore while her husband was contesting from Mansehra, his home district in the country’s northwest.
The London properties of the Sharif family were revealed in 2016 in the Panama Papers leak. The luxury apartments, which the former PM has been using since the 1990s, according to the corruption reference, were bought with illegal money, an accusation denied by Sharif and his children.
The Avenfield reference was among the three corruption cases filed against the former PM and his children by the NAB, Pakistan’s anticorruption watchdog, on the Supreme Court’s orders in the Panama papers case verdict that had disqualified Sharif from office on July 28 last year. The other two corruption references — Al-Azizia Steel Mills/Hill Metal Establishment in Jeddah and offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Limited and 15 other companies — have yet to be concluded.
After the verdict, Maryam tweeted that the people stood by her father. “Well done Nawaz Sharif ! You weren’t afraid and you didn’t bow down. You gave priority to Pakistan over your own personal interest. The people stand with you. You will be victorious.”
Rejecting the verdict, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif said the party would use all legal and constitutional means to challenge the decision. “The timing of this verdict is pre-poll rigging. It is an attempt to influence the outcome of the election,” he added.
Corruption case: highlights
July 13, 2018: The Times of India
Here is all one needs to know about the case in 10 points:
1. In July 2017, Sharif had to resign from his position as PM after the 2016 Panama Papers leaks implicated him. The Papers showed Sharif and his children (including Maryam) owned offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.
2. The companies identified include Nescol Ltd, Nielsen Enterprises Ltd and Hangon Property Holdings Ltd, incorporated in 1993, 1994 and 2007 respectively.
3. Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered a probe into the issue in 2017. Upon finding ‘insufficient evidence against Sharif, the matter was referred to a Joint Investigation Team.
4. The JIT found that the Sharifs’ British Virgin Islands companies were said to have been used for channeling ill-gotten, undeclared and unaccounted-for wealth with which he and his children bought properties in London. Based on the JIT’s findings, a case of money laundering was filed against Sharif.
5. The JIT found, among other things, that one of the London properties, in the Avenfield House in posh Mayfair, was registered in the name of Sharif’s sons and in Maryam Nawaz’s name. Maryam was also the owner of two of the Virgin Islands offshore companies. The JIT submitted its report on July 10 last year.
6. A Pakistani tribunal court last Friday held Sharif and his daughter Maryam guilty + and sentenced them to prison terms. They were convicted in absentia; both were in London, where Sharif's critically ill wife is in hospital.
7. Sharif has alleged that it was a ‘judicial witch-hunt’ which was being conducted against him because of the December 2016 media reveal about the discord between the powerful Pakistani military and elected civilian government. The report caused widespread furore, with Sharif being forced to issue multiple denials of any conflict between the government and military.
8. Ahead of his arrival from London to Lahore on Friday – expected at 6:15 pm Pakistan time - authorities in the country launched a massive clampdown on some 300-plus workers of Sharif’s PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) to prevent them from organizing a rally in support of their leader.
9. “I'll be taken straight to jail. But I'm doing this for people of Pakistan, sacrificing for generations to come. Such (an) opportunity won't come again. Let's build destiny of Pakistan together,” said Sharif on-board a flight to the UAE's Abu Dhabi Airport, en route to Lahore.
10. The national elections, which are to be held this July 25, are going to be majorly affected by this development, with Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran khan standing to gain the most. Khan had been one of the five petitioners in the Supreme Court against Sharif in July 2017.
Sept: court suspends graft sentences of Sharifs
The Islamabad high court suspended the jail sentences of former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar given by an anti-corruption court last July.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb gave the judgment on petitions filed by Sharif, his daughter and sonin-law challenging the verdict of the lower court in the Avenfield corruption reference, a case related to ownership of four apartments by the Sharif family in the Avenfield House, a housing block in London.
Justice Minallah read the judgment and suspended the sentences handed to the three by the anti-corruption court on July 6. “We accept the petitioners’ pleas seeking a suspension in their sentences,” Justice Minallah said. “The instant writ petition is allowed and sentence awarded to the petitioners by the accountability court shall remain suspended till the final adjudication of the appeal filed by the petitioner,” the judgment read. Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar were sentenced to 11 years, eight years and one year, respectively, in prison.
Minallah ruled that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anticorruption watchdog, was unable to prove a financial link between the former PM and the London flats.
Ordering their release, the HC bench directed the trio to submit bail bonds worth roughly around $5000 each. Sharif, Maryam and her husband had been serving their sentences in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail since July 13. Last week they were released on a five-day parole to participate in the last rites of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Sharif ’s wife who passed away at a London hospital on September 11 after battling cancer for more than a year.
A large number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders and supporter were present in and outside the courtroom and cheered as the judgment was announced. Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar were released after senator Chaudhary Tanvir submitted bail bonds for the trio at the deputy registrar’s office of the high court. The NAB is expected to challenge the IHC’s verdict at the Supreme Court. Hearings in two other graft cases against Sharif and his family are still on at an anti-corruption court.
The Islamabad HC decision came as a blow to Sharif’s bitter political PTI opponents led by PM Imran Khan, who swept a July general election following Sharif's conviction and imprisonment. The judgment came when Khan was in Saudi Arabia on a state visit, apparently seeking financial help to avoid IMF bailout.
Two days ago, the antigraft watchdog also moved the Supreme Court to block the Avenfield verdict suspension pleas before the IHC. However, the apex court had penalised NAB for filing a “frivolous” petition and fined the anti-graft watchdog Rs20,000.
Sharif was ousted from power last year in July by the Supreme Court, after his children were linked to offshore companies in the Panama Papers leaks of 2015.
