ISLAMABAD - Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has let loose all cannons against the superior judiciary when it came up with scathing criticism on judges of apex court for using ‘derogatory language’ against Nawaz Sharif in the detailed verdict of review petition of the Panama Leaks case.

After his tirade against the superior judiciary in his media chat outside the Accountability Court Islamabad premises, the meeting of the ruling party leaders at the Punjab House decided to confront the superior judiciary and the statement released after the meeting by PML-N media clearly showed the intention.

Though the statement issued by the PML-N media was not on the letterhead of the party, it was issued from the PML-N media wing.

The insiders in the meeting informed The Nation that the members with hawkish tendency said that the party needs to stand before the judiciary and at least confront their wrongdoings like the derogatory language it has used against the three times elected prime minister of Pakistan and head of the largest political party in the country.

Actually it was decided in the meeting not to accept the wrong decisions of the judiciary and would fight it out at all available forums, a senior party leader said, adding ruling PML-N wanted to work within the legal and constitutional framework but the same should also be applied to other state organs as well.

Sources in the party said that in coming days especially after the Nov 12 rally in Abbottabad the ruling PML-N would expose the dichotomy on part of the superior judiciary and the biased and unjust treatment the Sharif family was meted out in the trial court.

According to the PML-N media release, the party leadership has rejected the inappropriate and derogatory words against Nawaz Sharif by the apex court judges in the detailed judgement on multiple review petitions filed against the July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

“Whatever was said about the three-time prime minister “falls short of the court’s standards,” it added.

In the statement, the party accused Supreme Court judges not only of trying to influence the lower courts — saying that this was the opinion of several unnamed “legal experts” — but also of giving a judgement on the ongoing corruption references against the Sharif family before they have been completed.

“The detailed judgement is a very unfortunate example of malice, hostility, anger and provocation from beginning to the end,” the party said.

Putting to rest any speculation that Nawaz Sharif and family had been convinced to desist from attacking state institutions, the statement used unusually harsh language to criticise the Supreme Court on being unable to deliver justice.

“The caravans were looted because oaths were taken over the bandits’ hands,” the statement alleged, invoking the Provisional Constitution Order imposed during dictator Pervaiz Musharraf’s regime.

The “caravans looted by bandits” reference was a response to a verse quoted in the Supreme Court’s judgement the day earlier, which the PML-N seems to have taken particular offense at.

“The doctrine of necessity was invoked to provide justifications, and orders that allowed the bandits to play with the Constitution were given [by the courts],” the PML-N alleged.

“The leaders are facing the courts even today; we would like to know where the bandits are,” it added, in a veiled reference to accusations that the justice system has proven ineffective against former dictators.

The statement further accused the Supreme Court of speaking the language of its political opponents, which “is more appropriate for jalsas”. This cannot be tolerated, it said.

It ended with the same verse quoted in the Supreme Court’s judgement, but with one word switched out to imply that Pakistan’s current socio-political turmoil was a result of the apex court’s inability to provide justice.