A tale of Two JITs In a watershed moment in July 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was untruthful and untrustworthy for failing to declare his deemed income from his son. This decision was based on the findings of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed in early 2017 to investigate corruption allegations against Nawaz Sharif and his family in the Panama Papers case. This report provided the Supreme Court with much-needed fodder to disqualify Mr. Nawaz Sharif from holding public office for life, a decision that the court allegedly had already made on the behest of the establishment but needed a shoulder from which to shoot its gun, which the JIT provided in the form of accusing Nawaz Sharif and his family members, including Maryam Nawaz, of several financial irregularities. The decision's merits remained a source of debate and criticism from many quarters. Legal experts argued that the Supreme Court had overstepped its bounds, and that the decision could set a dangerous precedent for future cases. Nawaz Sharif, who never accepted the decision, called it politically motivated and designed to weaken his party. Unfortunately disregarding the perils faced by the country on all fronts, they are still settling personal vendettas against each other at the expense of the country's financial and economic health and making the people struggle to make ends meet. We are all aware that the solution to the country's quagmire lies in keeping national interests supreme, which primarily lies in upholding the constitution regardless of what happens. This simple solution however seems too difficult and impossible to implement when decisions are made to protect personal interests at the expense of violating the constitution, putting the country in dire economic and financial straits with no way out. And perhaps this JIT is also a good tool for settling personal scores while ignoring the risk of sending the country into another dangerous spiral. This article is about formation of two JIT one against Nawaz Sharif which ended at his disqualification and second JIT against Imran Khan whose fate is yet to be decided.. The politics in Pakistan is indeed an unending drama.. with even a single dull moment.

1. A tale of two JITs..
By Qamar Bashir
Former Press Secretary to the President
Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France
In a watershed moment in July 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that three-time Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif was untruthful and untrustworthy for failing to declare his
deemed income from his son. This decision was based on the findings of a Joint
Investigation Team (JIT) formed in early 2017 to investigate corruption allegations
against Nawaz Sharif and his family in the Panama Papers case. This report provided
the Supreme Court with much-needed fodder to disqualify Mr. Nawaz Sharif from
holding public office for life, a decision that the court allegedly had already made
on the behest of the establishment but needed a shoulder from which to shoot its gun,
which the JIT provided in the form of accusing Nawaz Sharif and his family
members, including Maryam Nawaz, of several financial irregularities. The
decision's merits remained a source of debate and criticism from many quarters.
Legal experts argued that the Supreme Court had overstepped its bounds, and that
the decision could set a dangerous precedent for future cases. Nawaz Sharif, who
never accepted the decision, called it politically motivated and designed to weaken
his party.
However, this was not the first time Nawaz had been deposed prematurely. He was
removed from office in April 1993, citing corruption allegations, and again in
October 12, 1999, on charges of corruption, hijacking, and terrorism, and yet again
in 2017 on failing to declare certain assets in his election nomination papers and was
barred from holding public office for life, including as leader of his political party.

2. On July 6, 2018, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Avenfield corruption
case, and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was sentenced to seven years. Nawaz Sharif
was granted bail on medical grounds in December 2019 and left Pakistan for medical
treatment in London. In November 2020, the Islamabad High Court revoked his bail,
and he was ordered to surrender to Pakistani authorities upon his return.
Nawaz and Maryam endured the decision and its consequences, but neither forgave
Imran nor Saqib Nisar. Recent events in Zaman Park presented them with a once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity, which they eagerly took, charging Imran Khan as a terrorist
and his party as a terrorist party, and immediately establishing a JIT to investigate
the charges. Nawaz Sharif's posture, body language, and confidence in a recent
interview clearly indicated that he was the mastermind behind the idea to use JIT as
a proven tool to permanently fix Imran Khan.
Why was a JIT formed to investigate Imran Khan? Nawaz Sharif who had never
forgotten the treatment he received from the establishment and the judiciary, as well
as their project Imran Khan and is dead set on using the tried-and-true weapon of
JIT to declare Imran Khan ineligible to hold any public office for the rest of his life.
Perhaps everything is coming together now. According to the government, the
strategy of encircling Imran Khan on all sides and then physically or politically
removing him from national discourse is working. Filing over 100 FIRs, chasing him
and embroiling him in courts across the country, aiming to arrest and imprison him
at the first available opportunity to neutralize him physically and politically is
working according to their point of view. Ms. Maryam has vowed that elections will
not be held in the country until there is a level playing field which according to them
is equated with absolving Nawaz Sharif of all charges, allowing him to come to
Pakistan without being arrested and his status as party leader is restored and Imran
khan like Nawaz Sharif should endure all those treatments which were slapped on
Nawaz Sharif. To achieve this end, the government is utilising all powers thankfully

3. bestowed upon it by Imran Khan himself in the form of dissolved provincial
assemblies allowing them to pursue Imran Khan in any direction they choose.
Let us examine the chessboard. The PML(N) controls all power structures, including
governments in all provinces and the center, the Election Commission, civil and
military bureaucracies, government resources, and enjoys the combined political
capital of thirteen political parties. Imran Khan, on the other hand, is a chess player
with both his own and the government's pawns. The government appeared to be in a
better position with power pieces, but the game is far from over, as the player with
the pawns can still use them strategically to block the power pieces and control key
squares on the board.
So far, so good; Imran Khan is successfully managing FIRs and neutralizing
numerous audio and video leaks, wriggling out of Toshakhana, foreign funding, and
the Tyrian Jade Khan White case, and prudently providing defence in contempt of
court cases. But how would he respond to the latest JIT weapon, which aims to label
him a terrorist and his party a terrorist party? Perhaps he will blunt the JIT weapon
in the same way that he has blunted the other weapons by using pawns to first contain
the power pieces and then neutralise them one by one.
Unfortunately disregarding the perils faced by the country on all fronts, they are still
settling personal vendettas against each other at the expense of the country's financial
and economic health and making the people struggle to make ends meet. We are all
aware that the solution to the country's quagmire lies in keeping national interests
supreme, which primarily lies in upholding the constitution regardless of what
happens. This simple solution however seems too difficult and impossible to
implement when decisions are made to protect personal interests at the expense of
violating the constitution, putting the country in dire economic and financial straits
with no way out. And perhaps this JIT is also a good tool for settling personal scores
while ignoring the risk of sending the country into another dangerous spiral.