The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Joint Investigation Team have played a commendable role in bringing the governing family to their unfortunate end. Both the SC and the JIT could have come under pressure from the ruling party and decided in their favour, but they did not do so.

The JIT, as the court also appreciated, had done hard work in preparing and filing a detailed report. Similarly, the SC has also done tremendous work by swiftly announcing the impartial verdict. The court could also rule that there was still not enough evidence to topple Mr Sharif, and call for a further investigation, but it did not.

Now, there is still a great need for unearthing the other corrupt faces of Pakistan by the apex court so that no one else can ruin the dear country in the future.

Salahuddin Bhutto

Islamabad

(2)

I AM now 69, but in my school days after assembly and prayers all students passed by a huge saying on the wall, before proceeding to our classes. This I still remember: “When a scorer comes to write against your name, he does not write: you won or lost but how you played the game.”

May Allah bless them and Pakistan.

Akbar Merchant

Karachi

(3)

AS a nation, we are pretty much capable of finding a good and a bad part of every deed, be it the division of Taliban into good and bad Taliban or corruption. What we need to understand is that there is no such thing as ‘a minor theft’ or ‘multi-billion corruption’.

The accountability of all and justice for every individual will only be served when we stop discriminating about the severity of the crime. In the eyes of the law, every illegal act is a crime, and is punishable.

Our justice system can only deliver when the theft of a goat, the violation of traffic rules, murder and corruption are equally considered crime.

Muhammad Nauman Hafeez

Islamabad

(4)

THE Panama verdict is disappointing and cannot be construed as a landmark judgement. The public had expected a sustainable and discernible verdict to erase the scourge of corruption on a permanent basis after the commendable work done by the JIT.

The general perception is that the Supreme Court has been soft on the Sharif family and afforded relief in many areas which otherwise would not have been available to a less powerful mortal.

The issue like the non-disclosure of undrawn salary in Jabel FZE has become the basis of dishonesty and, thus, disqualification, but more serious charges such as forgery and record-tampering, which attract imprisonment for up to seven years, and obstruction of justice, have been overlooked because the court opted for a lighter punishment.

There are no orders for putting the names of all accused persons and their accomplices on the Exit Control List.

The Panama verdict deals with the fate of one family while the expectation was that it would be all-encompassing and provide explicit guideline as a way forward in dealing with all cases of offshore companies, loan defaulters and mega corruption cases numbering 179 pending in the National Accountability Bureau.

The Panama judgement, spread over just two dozen pages, is an unsatisfactory piece of work and contrasts with the excellent work carried out by the JIT.

Arif Majeed

Karachi

(5)

I THANK the Supreme Court of Pakistan for ousting its prime minister. This would lead to activism against corruption across perhaps the most corrupt region in the world — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Divided by boundaries, South Asia is united in corruption

Gurcharan Singh

New Delhi

(6)

FRIDAY’s decision was assuredly a watershed that will be remembered as ‘auld lang syne’ in Pakistan. Despite pressures, the JIT’s unflinching and vigilant investigation made it possible for the apex court to throw Nawaz Sharif out of his office.

This is a turning point in Pakistan’s politics that has been so far under flak. Now our friends and foes alike realise that Pakistan is not a country of pardons anymore.

Uzaif Mustafa

Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2017