LAHORE - Former information minister Pervaiz Rashid says an elected prime minister can be removed only by the people who brought him to power and any other course to be adopted for the purpose will not be fair.

Talking to The Nation on Thursday, he said Mian Nawaz Sharif did not face any corruption charge which meant that he performed his role as country’s chief executive quite honestly. Had the prime minister been involved in any wrongdoing, Rehman Malik (the PPP leader who recently appeared before the joint investigation team to record his statement) or any other opponent should have challenged his nomination papers for the 2013 election, he argued.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid, who was stripped of his cabinet post because of his "failure" to stop the publication of a news item that became the basis of what was regarded as DawnLeaks, said Mian Nawaz Sharif was an elected representative and voters alone were competent to remove him. The 2018 election would be the right time to decide his fate, he said.

Asked if voters alone were competent to take any decision against the premier, then what should be done with the six-member joint investigation team which had been set up by the country’s top court, the senator did not come up with a direct answer. He said apolitical institutions should not involve themselves in politics as by doing so they become controversial. Election or removal of a prime minister is a political issue (that should be left to the people).

He said not much time was left to the 2018 election and “we should all wait for people’s verdict”.

Pervaiz Rashid said allegations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are “politically-motivated” and there is no justification for anyone to single him out on the pretext of “accountability”. According to him, “selective accountability is bound to become controversial and will be very dangerous for politics”. He said already people had started raising fingers at the ongoing proceedings against the prime minister and his family members.

The senator was critical of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and others for pronouncing their “own decisions” in the ongoing Panama case. He said the relevant authorities must give them a "shut up call".

The prime minister, his two sons Hussain and Hasan, son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar, brother Shehbaz Sharif (who is also the Punjab chief minister) and cousin Tariq Shafi have already appeared before the six-member joint investigation team. Now the JIT has again summoned the prime minister’s cousin, sons and even daughter Maryam Nawaz for investigation on four different days of the first week of July.

The JIT is scheduled to submit its report to the apex court on July 10, after which the bench will give a verdict. However, it is not clear how long will the bench take to give its judgment which, many believe, will set the future course of politics in the country.

The former information minister said former chief justices Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and Abdul Hameed Dogar should also be proceeded against for their alleged “misdoings”.

“What is it that Justice Chaudhry did not do (during his tenure)”, he said without elaborating it. Similarly, he said, Justice Dogar should also be held accountable.

Replying to a question, Senator Pervaiz Rashid said the state was in dire need of strong institutions. At present, he said, political institution was the weakest of all and it must be strengthened. “Weak politics will weaken the state. To save the state we’ll have to save politics”.

The senator said the tradition of defaming the prime ministers has been going on for long and now it should be given up for good. The prime minister should be allowed to work and all state institutions should work like his arms. Thus alone, he said, Pakistan would be able to face the internal and external challenges. Otherwise, he said, apolitical institutions would not be able to deal with external threats.

Q: If the prime minister doesn’t trust the institutions investigating him and his family, does it not mean that he has failed to give the country a trustworthy system of justice despite this being his third term as the head of government?

A: The situation facing the country was not created overnight. It took decades to reach this stage. It is unfair to expect of the prime minister to set right all evils, especially the ones that have become part of our culture, immediately after coming to power. He doesn’t have a magic wand. The opposition parties must keep in mind that they are supposed to play their role in parliament, not outside. Sit-ins are not the right venue to make speeches, they should express their views in elected houses.