[Imran Khan, the opposition politician who has been spearheading the campaign against Mr. Sharif since he took power in 2013, stands to gain the most politically from the removal of Mr. Sharif. Mr. Khan has doggedly and almost obsessively led the charge against Mr. Sharif and rallied a wide swath of the public against him through a mix of street agitation and court petitions.]
By Salman Masood
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Supporters
of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during rally to condemn his dismissal in Lahore,
Pakistan,
on Friday. Credit K.M. Chaudary/Associated Press
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s Supreme
Court on Friday ordered the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office
over accusations of corruption, delivering a historic ruling that is likely to
shift the country’s tumultuous political balance and deal a serious blow to the
legacy of a man who helped define the past generation of Pakistani politics.
The removal of Mr. Sharif, who was serving
his third term in office, comes roughly a year before his term was to end.
The verdict means the governing political
party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, must choose an interim prime minister
to replace Mr. Sharif until the next general election, which is scheduled for
mid-2018.
Announced by the five-member Supreme Court,
the verdict caps more than a year of high political drama, breathless court
proceedings and a piercing investigation into the finances of the Sharif
family.
Watching the courtroom drama was the
country’s powerful military, which has traditionally decided the fate of
civilian governments. There had been hushed speculation that the court, in
coming to its decision, had the tacit, if not overt, backing of powerful
generals.
The charges against Mr. Sharif and three of
his children — two sons and a daughter — stemmed from disclosures last year in
the Panama Papers, which revealed that the children owned expensive residential
property in London through a string of offshore companies.
In their unanimous verdict on Friday, the
justices declared that Mr. Sharif was not “honest” and that he therefore was
“disqualified to be a member of the Parliament.” They also ordered the opening
of criminal investigations against the Sharif family.
Imran Khan, the opposition politician who has
been spearheading the campaign against Mr. Sharif since he took power in 2013,
stands to gain the most politically from the removal of Mr. Sharif. Mr. Khan
has doggedly and almost obsessively led the charge against Mr. Sharif and
rallied a wide swath of the public against him through a mix of street
agitation and court petitions.
The Supreme Court had asked the members of
the Sharif family to provide a paper trail of the money they used to buy their
London apartments. Investigators found that they were “living beyond their
means.”
Despite repeated court exhortations, Mr.
Sharif’s family and its lawyers failed to provide satisfactory documentation,
the justices said. Several of the documents they produced were declared fake or
insufficient.
A representative of the governing party said
that Mr. Sharif was stepping down because of the court verdict. But the party
expressed “strong reservations” over the ruling and said it was contemplating “all
legal and constitutional means” to challenge it, the representative added in a
statement.
Mr. Sharif has called the inquiry into his
family’s finances a conspiracy and has asserted that in his three terms as
prime minister he has not been tarred by a major corruption scandal. He
repeatedly rebuffed calls to resign and said that he had done no wrong.
The ruling, while expected, leaves unanswered
the long-term fate of the man who has been a dominating force in Pakistani
politics for the better part of three decades.
“I did not expect Nawaz Sharif to go
scot-free,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a prominent political analyst who is based
in Lahore.
“If he has a long-term vision, he will sit
back and guide his political party,” Mr. Rizvi added. “He and his supporters
will portray the court verdict as victimization and a grave conspiracy
involving international powers.”
Mr. Sharif’s removal from office throws his
political succession plans into disarray. His daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who
was being groomed as his political heir, was also implicated in the case.
Political insiders say there are several
possible contenders to replace Mr. Sharif: Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of
the national assembly; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the minister of petroleum; Khurram
Dastgir Khan, the commerce minister; and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the defense
minister.
“Whoever they bring will be a weak prime
minister, as Nawaz Sharif would want to have someone who is more or less in
line with his thinking,” Mr. Rizvi said.
Mr. Khan’s supporters had laid siege to the
Parliament and other government buildings in 2014 after accusing Mr. Sharif of
rigging the 2013 general elections. Another attempt to blockade the capital in
2016 was unsuccessful, but it forced the Supreme Court justices to take up the
Panama Papers case.
After the Supreme Court reserved judgment on
the case on July 21, Mr. Khan on Wednesday urged the court to announce a
verdict without delay.
“The whole country is at a standstill due to
the Panama Papers case,” Mr. Khan said. Critics said Mr. Khan was pressuring
the courts.
Political analysts say the court verdict
hands Mr. Khan an undeniable political and moral victory.
“Imran Khan will be strengthened, but it
remains to be seen how he capitalizes in Punjab Province, which is critical to
winning the general elections,” Mr. Rizvi said. Punjab, the most populous and
prosperous of the country’s four provinces, has remained a stronghold of Mr.
Sharif for decades.
Mr. Sharif presided over a period of relative
economic stability and was able to complete a few large infrastructure projects
while reducing the crippling power outages that have long afflicted Pakistan.
But the stubborn scandal over the London real
estate holdings sullied the reputation of the family.
Mr. Sharif’s political party nonetheless
hopes that his achievements can bring it another electoral success next year
even if Mr. Sharif cannot run for office. Mr. Sharif is expected to campaign
for his party.
During his current tenure, Mr. Sharif had an
uneven relationship with the powerful military. His overtures of more openness
toward India, Pakistan’s longtime foe, backfired as generals spurned his
efforts.
More recently, relations with the military
took a darker turn after news reports detailed how civilian officials
confronted the military over what they called a failure to act against Islamist
groups. Mr. Sharif had to fire his information minister and two top aides to
placate the army.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the
Pakistan Peoples Party, said the Panama Papers ruling was “a real test of our
system.”
Some predicted a politically volatile time
ahead.
“Until the elections, this will lead to a
period of political instability,” Amber Rahim Shamsi, a prominent journalist
who hosts a show on Dawn TV, said of the verdict.
“The Sharif political dynasty has somehow
managed to survive Pakistan’s rough and bloody politics for over three and a
half decades through wheeling and dealing,” Ms. Shamsi said. “It is hard to
imagine all the family falling like a pack of cards. Nawaz Sharif has a
following and could cash in on political martyrdom to stage a comeback.”