Islamabad: Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb talking to the media outside accountability court said that Nawaz Sharif-who had elevated Pakistan to the prestigious status of a nuclear power and protected the judiciary-was sitting in the court to uphold the sanctity of law and constitution. She lamented the fact that those who sabotaged the constitution, attacked the judiciary and the parliament and abused the constitutional institutions were roaming around freely.
Referring to the mention of a caravan in the Supreme Court (SC) decision on the review petition of Sharifs, she said that history was witness to the fact that caravan of Pakistan was vandalized only when the judicial system became subservient to the dictatorship.
She said it was a historic reality that people had invariably given their own verdicts whenever a popular leader was ousted by the ‘sword of law’.
She said the people of Pakistan had thrice given their verdict in favour of Nawaz Sharif, by electing him prime minister, who had now been disqualified on the basis of ‘Iqama’. Marriyum observed that the Sharif family and the government were even given the epithet of godfather and Sicilian mafia.
Marriyum said the review petition was based on hard facts and the expectation was that it would be heard by judges other than the ones who delivered the original verdict because it was inclusive of controversial mattes that happened in the SC and Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The minister said it would have been better if another bench had voluntarily heard the review petition.
Marriyum said the people of Pakistan had not accepted the verdict so far. The minister, giving reasons for non-acceptance of the verdict by the people, said it all started with money laundering, tax evasion, plundering of money and Panama Leaks notwithstanding the fact that the name of Nawaz Sharif was not mentioned in them.
“The Sharif family has termed the decision as prejudiced because the review petition also contained all those matters on the basis of which the decision has been called controversial,” she added.
Later in the evening, talking to a TV channel, she said that whatever Nawaz Sharif had said outside the National Accountability Bureau court reflected well considered stance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
She said that in all the decisions given in the Panama case, every time a different story had been woven including leakage of Hussain Nawaz’s picture, a WhatsApp story and then the formation of JIT but Nawaz Sharif and his family faced all this with exemplary patience and sangfroid.
Marriyum said the SC had given six verdicts in the Panama case so far but no case of corruption had been established against Nawaz. The minister said, as observed in the communiqué issued by PML-N, this kind of decision negated the legal norms against a man who had made Pakistan a nuclear state, protected the judiciary, given China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the country, had been the prime minister of Pakistan thrice and against whom no corruption had been established and who had worked dedicatedly for development of the country.
She said Nawaz Sharif had declared assets worth billions and if he did not declare assets worth 10-15 thousand dirhams, the judiciary should have practically considered the situation.
She said the people of Pakistan had reposed their confidence in Nawaz Sharif by electing him prime minister three times. Replying to a question, she said the statements given after the verdict on the review petition were not an angry reaction but a principled and collective stance of the PML-N.
Published in Daily Times, November 9th 2017.
