LAHORE - Punjab Law Minister Rana Muhammad Sanaullah Khan has defended the election of disqualified PM Nawaz Sharif as PML-N president.

Addressing a press conference Wednesday, he said Nawaz Sharif is emerging as a symbol of resistance against anti-democracy and anti-masses forces while Imran Khan as an agent of anti-people forces.

 “When a person declared bad character by an international court can become the head of a party, why can not a person disqualified on technical ground by a court hold office of PML-N president,” Rana Sana said.  “After GT Road rally and Abbotabad public meeting, Nawaz Sharif has been recognised by the Parliament as a symbol of democracy. The parliament now understands his point of view,” he maintained.

Sana also hinted at up to 15 public meetings of Nawaz Sharif in time to come.

He hoped Nawaz will be voted to power in the next general election year.

About former president Asif Ali Zardari’s tirade on August 2-15 , the Punjab Law minster said he also ‘appealed to Zardari to review his decision’. He said: “Elements like PTI want to pit the masses and the judiciary against each other but people have confidence in their judiciary.”

Appealing to the CJP, the law minister said: “Political matters must be decided by the parliament or at the public level through vote.”

He said the bill which is subject of dispute before the Opposition, was debated one and half years before legislation.

The law minister said services of reputed audit firms have been hired to conduct of 56 companies engaged to various development projects in Punjab. The Auditor General has also been written a letter in this regard and now it is up to his discretion to fix time for this exercise, he said, claiming that no corruption has been committed in any project of the province.

As to the alleged misappropriations in Saaf Paani and Land Record Management projects, he said, action against these companies have not been initiated on the plea from NAB or any other agency, but the system itself had indentified the matter.

He said some officers are in jail while inquiries are going on against others officers in the grade 20 and 21. He welcome NAB investigations and said, the findings of the NAB will also be made public. He also referred to the Metro Bus about which allegations of bungling were levelled and said, the government furnished the whole record to the NAB.

When a question was asked about the continuous dharna of Laibaik Ya Rasool Allah Movement, the Minister said the Movement demanded resignation of Law Minister Zahid Minister it is a sensitive matter and hard to accept without inquiry otherwise it would not only be damaging for the individual but also the government.

About Faisalabad sit-in, he said the matter is sensitive. However he reiterated his government’s stance that the mistake was ‘unintentional’.