View from Dawn: Crime and punishment – the farce in Imran Khan’s disproportionate sentence

Pakistan’s twisted political saga continues without the slightest deviation from a tired and predictable script. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has been found guilty of “corrupt practices”, disqualified from representing the people of Pakistan, fined Rs 100,000, and sentenced to three years in jail for good measure.

If Khan’s actual “crime” seems irrelevant and of little moral significance, it is because former prime ministers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy faced similar treatment at the hands of the state; none of the charges levelled against them withstood the test of time.

Indeed, considering the frivolity of the charge and severity of Khan’s punishment, one need not reach too far back in history to find a parallel. Where Sharif’s political dreams were cut short over an unreceived salary, Khan’s political career has been rudely interrupted over failing to properly declare certain gifts he received as prime minister. In neither case, can the severity of the punishment be said to have fitted the “crime”.

There is no denying that Khan blundered by not complying with the Election Commission of Pakistan’s asset declaration rules as strictly as he should have. However, months of reporting on Toshakhana records have since established that very few of those who received...

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