Shahbaz is not a loan defaulter - Lahore court

A full bench of the Lahore High Court has ruled that while Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group) leader Shahbaz Sharif is not a defaulter, he cannot contest the elections.

The court, after hearing arguments over a week, decided that the signatures on the application papers submitted by Shahbaz, seeking candidature, were not genuine and as such he could not take part in the polls.

The signature issue was in fact not taken up or strongly defended by the counsel for Shahbaz Sharif, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, who contended that since the petitioner, Shahbaz, was not questioning the validity of the signatures, "there should be no doubts about them."

The court upheld the verdict of the election tribunal barring Sharif from contest. This in fact became the only ground on which Shahbaz is barred.

After a detailed study of documents, the LHC ruled that Shahbaz was not a defaulter of bank loans and was not responsible for liabilities of the Ittefaq group of industries, owned by the Sharif family.

The detailed judgement explains its reasons in reaching this conclusion over several pages, and rules that Shahbaz should "not be termed a defaulter in the future."

Hailing this ruling, Shahbaz, talking to newsmen from Saudi Arabia, said "We have been vindicated and the government's charges of default made against me have been shown to be totally malafide."

The LHC ruling has long term implications as it means that Shahbaz can no longer be charged for bank default and no case regarding this will stand against him. This in fact means he is no longer accused in any corruption offence.

The counsel for Shahbaz has also said the bar on his candidature will be taken up before the Supreme Court. "We are going to appeal the ruling that he cannot contest elections," Ausaf Ali said.

The senior counsel for the Sharifs, Ejaz Batalvi, is also said to have opined that the forged signature grounds is a very weak reason to dismiss a candidate. It is likely that this matter will be raised before the SC.

The claim by Shahbaz that his signatures are genuine is seen by some legal experts as sufficient ground to reject any allegations of forgery.

Experts also believe that "witnesses have been produced to prove Shahbaz signed the appears, and their testimony cannot be ignored."

More members of the PML-N are likely to be brought forward to testify as to the genuineness of the signatures, as a battle against time begins for Shahbaz, who continues to maintain that he can contest polls as a citizen of the country.

The fact that the LHC full bench did not make any reference to the 'exile deal' of the Sharifs with the government, under which the Musharraf administration maintains a 10-year ban on participation in political activity has been imposed on the Sharif family, is also seen as "very significant" by some legal experts advising the family.

They believe that this in fact indicates the deal is seen as having dubious legal validity by the courts, and that as such the grounds for barring Shahbaz are extremely limited - leaving open the possibility that the SC will overturn the ban on his candidature from three seats in Lahore, including two provincial assembly seats.