Sir Winston Churchill when asked, defined a successful politician as one who would promise all to his voters before the elections and explain after the elections as to why those can not be done. Rescinding from the verbal statements BB denying any meeting with Musharraf and then owning it later is quite an expected and familiar trait of our politicians but disowning blatantly a written and signed undertaking is something different. There are no two opinions about the verdict of the SC that a citizen under the constitution cannot be debarred from returning to his/her country. Period. But what about the citizen him/herself who has/had given such an undertaking to a third country? Is he/she not morally bound to honour the commitment made? One cannot help observe the following in this regard:-
1. The Sharif brothers aided by the media have been all along playing upon the words to befool the naïve and in that they had vehemently denied of having entered into any deal with the government. However, never once they mentioned about the Undertaking that they had signed and which was instrumental in their release from the prison and for their requested deportation to Saudi Arabia.
2. The media too, God alone knows whether out of ignorance, which is more likely, or out of malice, have been misleading the gullible that there were no signatures of the other party on the document signed by the Sharif brothers. I hope by now they know that an undertaking is signed ONLY by the party binding itself to carry out certain acts during the period mentioned in the undertaking ten years in this case.
3. The undertaking which is alive prohibits Sharif brothers from:
(i) Returning to Pakistan before 10 years.
(ii) Taking part in Pakistan politics in any form. Violated by both brothers for the last year or so - ever since they were out of the Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly they never uttered a word on politics for 6 years that they were in the Saudi Arabia.
(iii) Carrying out any business, which was reportedly flouted by them by establishing a steel concern in Saudi Arabia and violating the law of that land by importing certain materials from Israel, which was disapprovingly noticed by the govt. of the S.A.
(iv) Not proceeding to any other country without permission and then returning to the S.A. for stay. Again violated by N.S. who was permitted on humanitarian grounds by Musharraf to proceed to London to see his ailing son more than a year ago and did not return to the S.A. As far as the sons illness in concerned one has not heard about it in the media. And, allowing Shahbaz Sharif to proceed to USA for the treatment of his eyes.
4. If the undertaking was not the most basic and a pivotal part of the tripartite deal through a Saudi intermediary whether verbal or written with the govt. of Pakistan (read Musharraf) then how come that the Sharif brothers including almost all members of their family agreed to take abode in Saudi Arabia, not utter a word against their deportation or move an injunction in any court of Pakistan against it and abide by the terms of the undertaking for seven long years, till they managed to escape out of S.A. to London on one pretext or the other?
5. How come they had agreed to surrender part of their huge assets, properties and big business concerns to the govt. as plea deals and had left behind Hamza Shahbaz (as a guarantor) to execute the legal deeds, if there was no deal between them and the government?
6. Though the undertaking warrants not to disclose the identity of the foreign Guarantor or the name of the country the Sharif brothers chose to live in yet, it is no more a secret. Arabs by nature, particularly the Royalty, have great regard for their word and pledges and they expect the same from others in return. They would as such want Sharif brothers not to do anything which could lower their prestige in the eyes of the world. Alternately, the consequences could be anything - even undermining the Pak Saudi relations if they suspect the govt. of Pakistan acquiescing in the matter even inadvertently.
Since the undertaking was an instrument of trust between the three parties, of which one enjoys the most venerable religious status in Islamic ummah, why not look at the undertaking under the light of Islamic Law? Is an undertaking not equivalent of a promise or a pledge? If yes, would its contravention, violation, infringement or betrayal not amount to ahd shikani? And, how does Islam view Ahd Shikani? I think the matter deserves a verdict from the Muftis as well as the Islamic Shariat Court of Pakistan.
Truly
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)