ISLAMABAD: Hailing the accountability court’s verdict against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members, mainstream political parties on Friday believed that the judgement would lead to a new era of prosperity and accountability of all.

They said the process of July 25 general elections should not be derailed in the wake of Mr Sharif’s conviction.

Workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — the party that had moved the Supreme Court against Mr Sharif for committing corruption and money laundering — celebrated the decision of the accountability court and distributed sweets in many cities.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and its workers observed it as a mourning day, staged small rallies in various cities and rejected the decision.

PTI chairman Imran Khan termed the conviction of Nawaz Sharif beginning of new Pakistan and said that in the existing system only weak people were taken to task for their wrongdoings.

“It is for the first time the system punished a powerful man. Now big dacoits [politicians] would not go to the assemblies as their real destination is jail,” he added.

PPP leader says Nawaz failed to defend himself in corruption case

Mr Khan said the Sharif family had ruled Lahore [Punjab] six times but did nothing for the masses, adding that Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari destroyed all institutions of the country for their corruption. “If the country’s institutions are strong, corrupt politicians will be sent behind bars. A country is destroyed when its institutions are paralysed,” he added.

The Sharif brothers, he said, had introduced corruption in politics as they bribed politicians to get their loyalties. “I was the first man to speak against the evil of corruption in the country when I jumped into politics.”

The PTI chief said the nation should be thankful to God over the conviction of Nawaz Sharif as the Sharifs were required to tell how they earned money and laundered it. “If I could present the proofs of my London flat I purchased 34 years ago being a cricketer then why the Sharifs failed to present their money trail,” he added.

The PTI, Mr Khan said, had been struggling against “mafias” for 22 years and it was the right time for the nation to get rid of them.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman of the PPP said that everybody was expecting the same verdict. She added that Nawaz Sharif wanted to make the 2018 elections controversial. “Nawaz Sharif would be compelled to return to the country.”

In a statement, she said Mr Sharif had failed to defend himself in the corruption reference and put himself, the whole system and his party in a difficult situation.

Talking about the reaction by PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif to the judgement against his elder brother, she said it was “quite weak and feeble”.

The PPP senator said her party had earlier supported Nawaz Sharif in parliament for the sake of democracy, but he considered it a “deal” and his own war. She feared that the PML-N would not accept the election results, if it failed to win.

“Nawaz Sharif has disgraced the sanctity of vote,” she said.

At a press conference after the verdict, Awami Muslim League (AML) president Sheikh Rashid said it was for the first time in the country’s history that a powerful politician had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.

“Nawaz Sharif should to return to Pakistan to file appeal in an appellate court against the sentence awarded by the accountability court,” he said. “If Nawaz Sharif prefers to stay in the UK and challenges his sentence from there, it will further harm him politically.”

The AML chief said Mr Sharif had committed a crime and he had to face the sentence. “The verdict has sent a clear and powerful message across the globe that a premier of Pakistan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption.”

He said another former prime minister of the PML-N Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was contesting the election despite the fact that he was facing a NAB corruption reference. “People will give their reaction in elections and now the corrupt will be afraid of being involved in corruption,” he added.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Senator Sirajul Haq, while commenting on the verdict against Nawaz Sharif, said all others involved in corruption should also be proceeded against, but the election process should not be derailed because of this decision.

In a statement, he said the JI had taken the names of 436 people to the court after the Panama Papers leaks. “The speed of proceedings against them is dead slow and if accountability has to be carried out, it should be across the board,” he demanded.

“All those who looted the national wealth, got loans written off and laundered money to make properties abroad should be brought to book,” he said.

“If liberal and secular candidates win the elections again, they will once again go to the US and the UK to buy luxurious properties, putting the masses under heavy taxes and loans,” he said, adding: “It is time that the masses should awake and do not become a tool in the hands of Khans, Chaudhris, Zardaris, etc.”

PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi also hailed the decision against Nawaz Sharif and said the latter faced the conviction because his government was trying to amend the Khatm-i-Nubuwat law.

Addressing a public meeting, he claimed that the Sharifs had made a promise with Qadiyanis in the UK that they would amend the law to benefit them. He accused Shahbaz Sharif of pocketing billions of rupees through kickbacks and corruption committed in several development projects in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2018