By Amjad Mehmood
Barrister Zafarullah Khan is a renowned lawyer, public intellectual, politician and leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N). He passed his Bachelor of Arts from Bahauddin Zakriya University Multan in 1981 and Master of Science in International Relations from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, in 1984. He served as Lecturer in a renowned university at Islamabad for a short span and then qualified in 15th CTP (District Management Group) in 1987. His last appointment was Additional Secretary Planning and Development, Punjab. During service, he earned his law degree from City University London in 1997 and Postgraduate Diploma in Law from University of the West of England, Bristol. He completed Barrister-at-Law in 1998 from Lincoln’s Inn, London. He resigned from the Civil Service in 2002 to work for rule of law and human rights. He has participated in several special courses of Law and International Relations in Holland, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. He served as Federal Secretary, Law, Justice and Human Rights and later on as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM)/Minister on Law, Human Rights, Economic Affairs, Cabinet Division and Parliamentary Affairs. He is author of many books on Islam, law and human rights. He is amongst the few Pakistani politicians who are intellectual, non-controversial and maintain good reputation in the political community.
Daily Spokesman conducted an exclusive interview to know about his political journey and experiences including the viewpoints on contemporary political landscape of Pakistan.
Talking about his career in Civil Service of Pakistan, Barrister Zafarullah Khan recalls that he served in the capacity of Assistant and Deputy Commissioners in various Districts of Sindh and Punjab with his core belief in service to humanity. He said Deputy Secretary to Chief Minister, Punjab, was his most challenging role during service.
Talking about motives for joining politics after resigning from Civil Service in 2002, he shared his early life beliefs and inclination towards the “King Philosopher” of Plato. He said the world has experienced the boons and goons of socialism and capitalism and there was a need to develop a new economic system for a promising future. He said believing in the power of political system and his ideology of service at a larger scale, he left the Civil Service and joined practical politics. On an inquiry about any particular reason for joining the Pakistan Muslim League (N) he said, in 2003 amid a military dictator regime, the joining of politics was never an easy choice especially PML (N) and after careful review of political ideologies of both available major Parties, he opted for PML (N) considering it more proximate to his desired core values of Islam and Pakistan.
He said after resigning from Civil Service, he started practicing law at the Bar and as soon he joined politics, he was approached by the then military dictator to join his political setup. He was also invited by former Chief Justices of Pakistan, to join the judiciary. He said, despite the available lucrative offers, he joined PML (N) and was assigned the role as Head, Human Rights Wing of the Party.
While asked about his most important portfolio during the PML (N) government from 2013 to 2018, Barrister Zafarullah said he was not given the Party ticket, from Islamabad in general elections. However, considering his long services for the profession of law, former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and former Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar asked him personally to serve the country and he was unable to deny the leadership who was committed day and night to serve the nation. Initially in October 2013, he was selected as Secretary Law, Justice and Human Rights by following the due selection process and after one year, he resigned from the position. He said PM Nawaz Sharif had started liking him for his firm stance at many occasions and productive arguments within the Party and government. Then PM Nawaz Sharif elevated him for political orientated roles and appointed him as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on different portfolios.
When asked about his point of view regarding the judicial system in Pakistan, he said the judicial system utterly failed for various reasons including lack of proper education of law, less resources for judiciary and improper selection process of judges. He said the newly introduced system of judges’ appointment as deliberated in the Charter of Democracy has even more miserably failed than the previous one. He said to provide real-time justice to the nation, there is a need for radical change in the Pakistani judicial system. He further explained that the Constitutions of India and Pakistan are same in terms of judiciary but behavior of the two judiciaries is entirely different. He added that the Pakistani judicial system has failed to give due importance to human rights cases whereas, political cases get undue priorities. The use of suo motu power in Pakistan is against the spirit of the Constitution and well accepted norms. He explained that during last three years, 15 Thousand cases are added to the pending cases in Supreme Court of Pakistan and the honourable Court has consumed hundreds of hours to Gujjar Nullah alone. He said the United States Supreme Court gives nine minutes to a case whereas, an average case in Pakistan takes many days and years and an average civil suits takes 25 years to conclude. He said our judiciary is unfortunately giving decisions rather than justice. He commented that some members of the Bar Associations are equally responsible for the failure of the judiciary.
“I HAVE OPTED FOR PML (N) CONSIDERING IT MORE PROXIMATE TO HIS DESIRED CORE VALUES OF
ISLAM AND PAKISTAN”
While asked about his legal opinion about the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify the PM Nawaz Sharif, he said “it was a totally illegal and engineered decision”. He explained that it happened for the first time in history of the world, when the Supreme Court played the role of first trial court. He said the judges treated the facts indifferently against Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif and made regrettable decisions. He said the judiciary will express regrets one day over this judgement as former Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah did regarding the decision made against former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The condemnable decisions against PM Nawaz Sharif and FM Ishaq Dar have irreparably damaged the state and society of Pakistan. These decisions were part of conspiracy to remove genuine leaders and install puppets and the judiciary under Nisar and Khosa played the role of midwife for the ensuing illegitimate and slave (ghullam) setup that has ruined the society. He said the absurd decisions of former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar turned him into a most hated person who cannot even walk freely in his native city and others must learn from history.
On a query about differences between the personalities of Sharif brothers he replied, “They are two different persons with different temperaments”. He said Mian Nawaz Sharif has an unruffled persona with genuine charisma of a popular leader, a long term vision and possesses a very kind heart whereas, Mian Shahbaz Sharif has a firm personality, with all the values of a good administrator and he is always in hurry to serve the people day and night. I had worked with both and my honest view is that both are complementary to each other and it is an ideal ‘good duo’ for a political struggle.
Talking about split in Party, he said different voices in a political party represent the democratic values. He added fascist parties do not allow one to express a different opinion. He said “PML (N) is a genuine democratic party, it is not a military battalion”. He said every democratic party has many shades of opinions (like right and left wings) and it is the beauty of politics to give respect to each other’s views and find a negotiated way forward.
When asked about the future of Maryam Nawaz Sharif in Pakistani politics, he said after Mian Shahbaz Sharif, she will inherit the legacy of Mian Nawaz Sharif. He further added, Maryam Nawaz has a charismatic personality who electrifies the PML (N) workers. She gained huge popularity in a very short span and people attend political gatherings to listen her bold speeches.
“SUPREME COURT’S DECISION TO DISQUALIFY THE PM NAWAZ SHARIF WAS A TOTALLY ILLEGAL AND ENGINEERED DECISION”
Barrister Zafarullah Khan while commenting on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government said, “PTI government is illegal, selected and incompetent”. He said they do not have a team, rather they are simply a bunch of idle day-dreamers or situationers who have conveniently destroyed Pakistan’s economy. They have handed over the economy to the IMF and World Bank which results in prices hike on every alternate day. He said that the PTI government is highly corrupt and scandalous. They have ruined our social and political fabric and promoted bigoted and fascist culture in the society. He said PTI is using NAB, FIA, Anti-corruption Department and FBR against the opposition and government officials; therefore, bureaucracy is not functioning and no mega project is launched or completed by the government. He commented that Imran Khan would be tagged with Yahya Khan in history due to his misdeeds and the main actors in this drama shall be punished in a public people’s trial to correct record for our posterity.
When asked about Mian Nawaz Sharif’s anti-establishment stance and Party standing with it, he replied “We accept Mian Nawaz Sharif as our leader because of his firm stance on constitutional rule” and the Party is glued to the slogan of ‘respect to vote’. He said PML (N) is fighting for the supremacy of law, justice and democracy in the country and demands that every institution should play its role as prescribed in the Constitution of Pakistan.
He said the malicious and false propaganda against the politicians started from 1951 by a military officer who tried to oust PM Liaqat Ali Khan and it is being repeated since then unimaginatively by every adventurer and it should be stopped now as this has seriously damaged our body politic.
In his concluding remarks, Barrister Zafarullah Khan said that the Pakistani Political Parties can learn from the Western democracies to improve their values and performance. He said education is imperative to bring a mature democratic political culture in Pakistan for a prosperous future.