Mohammad Jamil
Two weeks ago, a landmark verdict was announced by a five-judge bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa – the same judge who had commenced his dissenting note in the April 20 judgment with a quote from The Godfather, a novel by Mario Puzo about a mafia family in Italy. The verdict declared Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disqualified for concealing his employment, and gave details of the findings of the JIT. The court ordered NAB to file cases within six weeks and the accountability court was asked to decide the cases against Sharif family in six months. Nawaz Sharif disqualified from holding his office for life, and under political parties act, he cannot head any political party. If charges are proved against Nawaz Sharif and his family members, they could end up in jail.
Instead of being ashamed of his wrongdoings, Nawaz Sharif has been holding public meetings, and has started a rally from Islamabad to Lahore, unarguably to pressurize the court and NAB not to proceed with cases against him and his family members. Supreme Court bench had avoided comments on the corrupt practices and would wait for the outcome of NAB proceedings, but Nawaz Sharif gave a spin to the judgment that he has been disqualified only for having Iqama of UAE, and that he did not receive salary from the company of his son. JIT deserves all superlatives for unearthing the corrupt practices of Nawaz Sharif and his family members. According to the details, Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with Passport Number BV5128361 was employed by CAPITAL FZE, a company established at JEBEL All Free Zone (JAFZA), UAE, as Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Nawaz Sharif had signed “Employment Agreement” on 4th February 2007 as Chairman of the Board for salary of 10,000 UAE dirhams. The agreement was revised and from 7th August 2006 until 20th April 2014, his Basic Salary was 10,000 UAE dirhams; confirmed by JAFZA vide their certificate number 194881, earlier he was employed as “Marketing Manager” of CAPITAL FZE (License Number 3209) for 10,000 AEDs, signed on 18th June 2006. Based upon this employment, he was issued a Residence Visa, known as “Iqamah” number 7104231/ 201/06 on 5 June 2012 with expiry date of the Iqamah as 4 June 2015. Previously, Iqamah was issued on 6 July 2009 with expiry date of 5 July 2012. As per record provided by JAFZA, the cancellation date of “Iqamah” alongwith exit date is 20 April 2014.
In contradiction to the claims of Mr. Nawaz Sharif that he never received the salary from CAPITAL FZE during the course of his employment, the salaries of February, March, April, June and July 2013 were paid to him through Over The Counter payment method. Payments of August, September, October and November were not received despite lapse of respective due dates, but the amount was receivable in the eyes of law. It has to be mentioned that Residence visa or “Iqamah” facilitates a person to open bank accounts with Swiss/foreign banks while showing themselves as residents of UAE/KSA. For the purpose of retaining Iqamah, the individual is required one mandatory visit in six months. Now, if Pakistani authorities request a foreign bank or government for information with regards to Pakistani nationals maintaining bank accounts, properties etc, then those having “Iqamah” will not be reported due to the reason that these will be considered as UAE/ KSA residents as per bank records.
Before elections, Mian Nawaz Sharif had made promises that if PML-N came into power, it will solve the problems of load shedding, unemployment, inflation and improve law and order situation. Such promises had raised the expectations of the people, and they wanted the PML-N to rid the country of unemployment, load-shedding and runaway inflation. In case of load shedding, after coming into power Nawaz Sharif said there was no quick fix. The fact remains that majority of rulers in Pakistan have been making promises to improve the lot of the common man, but they all have transformed this country into a sprawling landmass of darkness, hunger, want and disease from end to end literally. During the last three decades none of the government thought of initiating a large reservoir with the result that there is water shortage as well as electricity shortage, which has played havoc with the people’s lives as well as with the nation’s economy.
