ISLAMABAD: Hearing petitions asking for the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his ‘misstatement’ in the National Assembly, the Supreme Court asked on Wednesday whether a tweet from a military spokesperson — who was not present during the meeting between the army chief and the prime minister — could be considered an admissible evidence against the PM.

Justice Dost Mohammad Khan also observed whether the Inter-Services Public Relations’ tweet — confirming that the army chief had agreed to mediate between the protesting parties and the government at the latter’s request — was a statement on behalf of the entire army or just one person.

The observations came as the apex court was hearing three identical petitions, moved by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Ishaq Khakwani, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and a lawyer, Gohar Nawaz Sindhu.

All three have asked the court to order the disqualification of the prime minister for allegedly misstating facts on the floor of the National Assembly on August 29. The prime minister had told the house that the government did not ask the armed forces to “mediate” or become a “guarantor” in a deal bet­ween the government and the protesting PTI and Pakis­tan Awami Tehreek (PAT), aimed at ending their sit-ins on Constitution Avenue.

SC judge says an affidavit by army chief may be considered as ‘solid evidence’ in PM disqualification case

On Wednesday, the bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja heard the arguments of Mr Sindhu and observed that prima facie, the petitioner seemed to have the locus standi (legal right) to seek the PM’s disqualification through a petition. The next hurdle for Mr Sindhu will be to establish, through his arguments and case references, that his petition is also maintainable before the court.

The court explained that the only tangible evidence under the relevant laws were the actual words uttered by the PM during the meeting with the army chief, which could establish whether the PM gave a false statement on the floor of the house or not.

To establish this, the petitioner had to provide an affidavit signed by the army chief, which could be the only solid evidence in this case, the judge observed.

Referring to news clippings mentioning the PM’s statement, Justice Dost Mohammad Khan explained that the only question in the case at hand was whether the ISPR statement was admissible, without producing a person who was actually present in the PM-COAS meeting.

“We are not saying that the media has reported wrongly or corrupted the PM’s statement on that date,” the judge explained.

Justice Khawaja seconded the observation, saying that newspaper clippings were not sufficient to prove that the PM was being untruthful.

The counsel, however, argued that the entire nation relied on the ISPR for statements from the armed forces.

Justice Khawaja appreciated Mr Sindhu for filing the petition and said the court would endeavour to ensure that the people knew what decisions their representatives were taking about their fate and that decisions about the country’s future should not be taken behind closed doors.

On Wednesday, the court also touched upon the issue of political parties’ manifestos and asked whether these had ever been fulfilled. Can political leaders be called righteous and truthful when they make idealistic or tall claims before the people, such as free electricity and gas, or the promise to hold local government elections within six months, when in reality, these seem impractical, Justice Khan asked, adding “untruths are the politicians’ ornament”.

This prompted Justice Khawaja to clarify that the people’s representatives were honourable people and they would never lie deliberately.

Also on Wednesday, Justice Khan pointed towards the petitioner, saying that while he wanted to net a bird through his petition, the court’s decision might end up catching many more birds in that net. Here, Justice Khawaja interjected, saying that the court was not concerned whether one bird was netted or hundreds.

The court will now resume hearing the petitions on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2014