By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
A change in law seems likely to pave the way for Pakistan’s ousted former prime minister to take charge of the ruling party once again.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the country’s top court in July in the Panama Papers scandal for not revealing his assets when he filed his nomination papers in the 2013 general elections.
The Senate, parliament’s upper house, last week made a key change to the election reforms bill allowing any individual to become head of a political party even if he is not qualified to become a member of parliament.
On Monday, the clause will be put before the lower house, the National Assembly, where it is likely to be approved, as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and its allies enjoy a comfortable majority.
In the unlikely situation that the clause gets rejected, it will be addressed during a joint session of the Senate and National Assembly, where Sharif’s party and its allies are also in the majority.
The ruling party has called a meeting on Tuesday in the capital Islamabad to re-elect Sharif.
"Our leader is and will remain Nawaz Sharif," Senator Mushahidullah Khan, a federal minister and senior party leader, told local broadcaster Geo News.
'Nawaz is our leader'
"In fact, it can be said that he has already become the party head," said Khan, a close aide to Sharif, suggesting that Tuesday's election exercise would be a mere formality.
Mian Javed Latif, another party leader and a parliamentarian from Lahore, told Anadolu Agency that Sharif was fully eligible to be elected party leader under the recent legislation.
Sharif, 67, who is facing multiple corruption cases, was rendered ineligible to act not only as prime minister but also president of his party following a Supreme Court verdict.
The court ruled in July that he had acted in an untrustworthy manner by failing to declare a salary from his son’s Dubai-based company ahead of the 2013 election.
The court also ordered the opening of corruption cases against Sharif and his family members over revelations stemming from the Panama Papers scandal.
An Islamabad anti-corruption court which is hearing the corruption cases against Sharif and his family has already fixed Oct. 2 as the date for their indictment.
The former premier, who has held the premiership thrice but never completed a full term, maintains his innocence and has rejected all accusations of financial irregularities against him. He has repeatedly said that all transactions made by his family members were fair and in compliance with the country’s laws.
New life
Sharif's right-wing party, which won the 2013 elections to claim a landslide majority, also accused the investigators of harassing and pressuring witnesses to give them the statements they wanted. Denying the charge, the investigators themselves accused the Sharif government of harassing and pressuring them.
Analysts see the latest development as a new beginning for the ousted prime minister, who has had a checkered relationship with the country's powerful military during his 35-year political career.
"This legislation has given a fresh lease on life to Nawaz Sharif, who otherwise had almost been ousted from active politics following the apex court's judgment," Arif Nizami, a Lahore-based political analyst, told Anadolu Agency.
Sharif's re-election, he argued, would also save his party from a major split.
"If he had left politics and the country, his party would have been split into several factions," Nizami, said referring to Sharif's seven-year exile in Saudi Arabia, following dismissal of his elected government by then-Army Chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless military coup in 1999.
"The party’s major weapon in the next [2018] elections will be Nawaz Sharif. If he is here, his party is likely to perform well," he said.
Despite being re-elected the party president, some analysts do not see smooth sailing for the ousted premier, at least not in the near future.
"His re-election is likely to be challenged in the Supreme Court, which could annul the whole exercise on the grounds that a convicted or disqualified politician cannot lead a political party because he is not eligible to hold public office," Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a Karachi-based political analyst, told Anadolu Agency.
Also, he said, the former premier could be jailed in the ongoing corruption cases against him.
"In either case, he will remain relevant in the country's politics. If he remains in politics, it is quite possible that the civil and military establishment has to negotiate with him once again," Khan added.
Agreeing with Khan's contention, Nizami said that a landslide victory in the 2018 elections could bring him back to power by amending the Constitution, which disqualifies a public office holder for a lifetime.
But, he added, Sharif had to tone down his aggressive approach towards the judiciary and the army.
"He should not act as the opposition leader against his own government."
*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story from Islamabad.
