The Constitutionality of Government - Sharif Family “Exile Agreement”
Understanding Pakistan Project Team August 23rd, 2007
By: Athar Osama
When I was writing this post this morning, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had not decided this case in the favor of Nawaz Sharif and his family’s “inalienable and unqualified” right to return to Pakistan. Then Understanding Pakistan’s long-planned switchover from its servers to the new (much faster one!) ran into some glitches and the site remained inaccessible for several hours. I wanted to comment upon and archive the original copy of Nawaz-Government deal. Now, with the decision already made much of the post has been made redundant but I will do so anyway to if only to archive this agreement on Understanding Pakistan. So, here is my post, as it stood in the morning (I shall return to it later to update it with new developments)
When Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary was reinstated several weeks ago, I predicted–and prayed–that this would usher in a new era of judicial independence in Pakistan (here). Several ground breaking cases, I said, were likely to come before the Chaudhary Court. Among these cases was the the likely challenge to the exile of the Sharif family and the challenge to the constitutionality of General Musharraf’s dual appointments. The first of these challenges is now before the court.
While the legal battle has only started, one interesting thing that has recently come to light is the copy of the agreement between the Government and the Sharif family. The Government–for the first time in Pakistan’s history–has submitted something of value before the court and Dawn, to its credit, has made it publicly available for all of us to see and comment upon.
(Figure: Copy of the document signed by Nawaz Sharif on December 2, 2000. Source: Dawn.com, August 23, 2007)
The document titled “Confidentiality and Hold Harmless Agreement” shows that the Sharifs had also agreed not to engage in any business or political activities or any other activities of any nature against the interest of Pakistan, or relating to their incarceration, for a period of 10 years. They had also undertaken not to disclose to any party either the name of the ‘gentleman’ or of the country involved in their release from Pakistan and relocation, without their consent.
What is the constitutionality of such an agreement between a government–especially one that has come to power through an unconstitutional coup itself–and a citizen of the country? What was the crime that the members of the Sharif family were charged with? Did they receive a fair trial for the allegations against them? Should the Sharif family be allowed to return to Pakistan to contest in an open and fair election? Should the people of Pakistan–not the government, and not the courts decide–if Sharifs must be banished from Pakistan’s politics. In other countries around the world, the justice of the electorate has proven to be a very effective tool against politicans charged with corruption and wrong doing. Should that be the case in Pakistan?
Understanding Pakistan will follow this very interesting and landmark case as it progresses through the court. We will investigate and comment upon its legality, constitutionality, and historical precedence in the coming weeks. For now, I wanted to share the image of the “agreement” that Sharif family maintains they were forced to sign on “gun-point” with you. We will continue to add to this post as the case progresses and will keep Pakistan informed of the deeper issues involved in it.
Editorial Note: We are currently shifting over our hosting provider to significantly improve the downloading time of this website. This has consumed a lot of my time and has caused some delays in posting the promised material. Next is 1965 War, though, and soon (I promise!). There might be instances in the next 24-48 hours when the website may be unavailable for short durations of time. Please don’t lose heart if you encounter such an occasion and visit us later.
And now, the remaining images of the documents published in Dawn (August 23, 2007)
Image 2,3:
(Figure: Copies of document signed by Shahbaz Sharif on December 5, 2000 and one for his departure to the US for a medical checkup. Source: Dawn.com)
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