Panama Leaks: Live from Courtroom No1

ISLAMABAD: Finally, they lived up to their reputation. The Sharif family sprung up a wild surprise. A trump card, may be. Depending upon how it’s conceived, at least, it saved the moment on Tuesday. But the threat is not over yet. The statements of the members of the family contradicted each other.

For rival Imran Khan what was supposed to win the battle proved to be a ‘Trojan Horse.’ Hamid Khan, the PTI’s lead counsel, remained in the line of fire, earning a barrage of criticism from the worthy judges.

The day started with usual enthusiasm about some decisive move in the most significant case of the country’s history. The politicians, lawyers, crews of media and diplomats flooded the heavily-guarded court premises in the foothills of Margalla of Islamabad on an overcast morning.

Soon after the judges took their seats, it was Tariq Asad who pleaded the court for starting the trial of over 400 people named in the Panama Papers. But his arguments could not convince the judges, who wanted to take up the case of Premier Sharif’s children first as a test case. “Mr Asad,” one of judges remarked, “You are representing respondents, with this argument it looks like to us.”

With these smiling moments, Hamid Khan took the rostrum and abruptly came across tough questions. “Mian [Hamid] you brought hundreds of pages. And you wasted our precious time. Don’t send us Alif Laila stories,” a worthy judge called a spade a spade.

The faces of the Sharifs’ legal team blossomed but Khan’s legal team became gloomy during this moment. Then Imran Khan whispered into the ears of Jehangir Tareen. Shah Mahmood Qureshi looked super serious.

Exchange of arguments between Hamid Khan and the worthy judges continued. “Give me one more chance to review my documents,” Khan requested the top court, which gave him 48 more hours.

Sitting over chairs placed in the front row, the entire PTI leadership was in a state of awe when it was Akram Sheikh who submitted a plethora of documents in support of his clients — PM Sharif’s three children Hussain, Hassan and Maryam. Silence dropped in the courtroom. Mr Sheikh stood up. Journalists diverted their attention to the distorted sound system, reserved for them to hear well-articulated arguments.

The PM’s men, seven cabinet members, alerted themselves. Now, it’s our turn, a PML-N minister was murmuring through sounds of arguments. Then a turning point approached. Mr Sheikh stunned everybody, the worthy judges in particular.

“This is a confidential letter, my lords,” Sheikh raised his right hand and left the rostrum getting closer to the larger bench. Curiosity and inquisitiveness captured everyone. Senior lawyers sitting on front chairs murmured to one another. What is this?

Then, it was Akram Sheikh who stole the show. He informed the court here was a letter written by Hamad bin Jaseem bin Jaber Al-Thani, a member of the Royal family in Qatar in favour of his clients. “But I’ll not share it with anybody, except my lords,” Sheikh loudly announced. Many whispered. Finally, the Qataris came to rescue the Sharifs in the courtroom.

Even, Sheikh Rasheed, a party in this case, loudly said now the respondents would also bring a letter of Mahatma Gandhi (late) dually signed by Indian PM Narendra Modi. Perhaps Justice Asif Khosa went through a two-page letter in a minute and remarked, “This seems to be hearsay.”

The judges further asked if Mr Hamad would appear before the court. Sheikh responded, “My lords I’ll respond to it later.” Alright, file the letter with the court, the justices directed Mr Sheikh. Around a dozen PML-N leaders, sitting side by side in the left row of chairs, seemed worried over an honourable judge’s observation: “Submitted documents contradicted content of PM’s speech delivered before parliament.”

The heated moment went on while the judges pledged to keep focus on the Sharif family case, even dropped a hint to pass two separate orders i.e. one on Premier Sharif’s children and the other for the rest involved in the Panama scandal. With this pledge, a smiling moment revisited the sober courtroom once again. The judges amused the completely packed hall asking Sheikh Rasheed, “If you adopted law as a profession — you could be a better counsel rather than a politician.”

“It’s a compliment for me, my lord,” Mr Rasheed left the rostrum. Then the clock struck 10:35 am when the chief justice dictated the order where respondants would share the filed documents with one another, adjourning the hearing for tomorrow (November 17) and everyone left the court. The coming Thursday will decide either the commission would be formed or the apex court would continue to hear the case.