In the court of public opinion

A high-standard, non-discriminatory accountability law that brings all pillars of the state under its net should be the starting point

For the third time in four years — the longest single stretch of time that he has been continuously prime minister in his three stints — Nawaz Sharif is battling for survival in office. Each time he had secured a five-year mandate. Twice before he was pulled from office before completing his tenure and now he again finds himself in familiar territory.

He seems all but ready to be forced into being handed an unpalatable hat-trick of the political ignominy that is the fate of all electorally-victorious leaders who are elected prime minister by a simple majority of the National Assembly.

Six times elected prime ministers have been forcefully removed from office — Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yousaf Raza Gillani once each and Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto twice each — and not once did they lose the majority of the House that had elected them prime minister. And not once did they complete their five-year constitutional tenures.

It is in this broader backdrop that the latest trial of the prime minister must be contextualised. Sharif is awaiting possibly a decisive action by the Supreme Court next week that could cost him his office again. Looking at the trajectory of the legal trail of Sharif’s current trial, the apex court action is expected to be based on the findings and recommendations of a JIT appointed by it to investigate allegedly shady family businesses dating back four decades.