ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: After the Punjab caretaker government suspended the sentence of Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference, two major political parties — the PPP and the PTI — took exception to this decision and termed it a transgression on the part of the provincial administration.

In a statement, PTI legal affairs spokesperson Barrister Gohar Khan claimed that the Punjab caretaker government directly attacked the law by deciding to suspend the sentence of the PML-N leader despite having no authority to do so.

He said that the provincial governments did not have any authority to reduce, suspend, or terminate the sentence of an offender convicted under federal law.

He reiterated that Nawaz Sharif was convicted in Al-Azizia reference under the NAB law, which was a federal law.

PTI says govt lacked jurisdiction; PPP asks ECP to take notice of ‘favours’ being granted to PML-N

In a similar strong reaction, the PPP claimed the suspension of the sentence was a “crude manner” to provide relief to the former prime minister.

“Why don’t you lock up the courtrooms if decisions [on conviction] are to be taken in this manner?” Punjab PPP General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza said.

He called Mr Sharif a ‘ladla-plus’ and said the caretakers were doing everything except holding general elections.

Asserting that suspending Nawaz Sharif’s sentence was not in the ambit of the caretaker government, Mr Murtaza urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the act which “was tantamount to ensuring a favour” for the PML-N leader in the upcoming polls.

Asking the sentences of how many other convicts in the Punjab prisons had been suspended by the caretaker government, the PPP leader demanded that all the imprisoned criminals should be provided relief that had been given to Nawaz Sharif.

However, Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the government had not suspended the sentence, as it only referred the case to the court of law. “…the case has been forwarded to the court under Section 401 and the court has been entrusted with the decision of granting or denying the bail.”

‘Mandate of federal govt’

Advocate Usama Khawar Ghumman also questioned the power of the provincial government to suspend the sentence handed down under a federal law.

Talking to Dawn, he said although Section 401 of the CrPC referred to a provincial government, it was the mandate of the federal government, if the provision was read in its true spirit.

He said there would be chaos in the country if provincial governments started suspending sentences of politicians hostile to the federal government, especially those convicted under the federal laws.

Mr Ghumman disagreed with the interpretation of the IHC in Nawaz Sharif’s case when it asked him to approach the provincial government for further extension in the bail or suspension of the sentence.

He said the propriety required the concept of federalism to be upheld in the country.

The lawyer said the NAB was a federal entity that prosecuted Mr Sharif in the reference.

Therefore, he said, the provincial government lacked jurisdiction to suspend a sentence awarded under a federal law.

Section 401 of criminal procedure code says, “When any person has been sentenced to punishment of an offence, the provincial government may at any time without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced.”

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2023