ISLAMABAD - Upping the ante in his onslaught against the superior judiciary, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the judges could snatch the party’s symbol from their candidates but they could not erase his name from people’s hearts.
Talking to the media after appearing before the Accountability Court Islamabad, he said that such coercive tactics would no longer work as people of Pakistan had rejected this Sikha Shahi (dogmatism) and they were standing by his side to restore the sanctity of vote and establishment of Nizam-i-Adl (system of justice) in the country.
Nawaz Sharif said that his party candidates in the Senate elections were deprived of the party symbol and so was the case in by-polls in Kot Momin, where the PML-N candidate was given the symbol of “trolley” but even then his candidate won with a margin of over 20,000 votes.
So was the case in the Senate elections and they have fared well in elections for the Upper House by securing their requisite number of seats.
The ex-PM said that this should be an eye-opener for those who wanted to eliminate him from politics and the more they were pushing him down the more people of Pakistan were reacting, and coming up with greater support to his cause.
He said that it was positive to note that people of Pakistan were carrying his narrative and now he was listening from the people the slogans for restoration of sanctity of vote and establishment of a true system of justice in the country where people of Pakistan would have cheap and quick justice.
Referring to the five-member bench of the apex court, which had disqualified him, Nawaz said that how five persons could show the door to an elected prime minister of over 20 million people on “trivial charges” and now they had stood up for upholding the sanctity of their vote.
He said that now the people of Pakistan would not let this coercive trend continue, wherein an elected prime minister was dubbed “godfather” and “Sicilian mafia [head]”.
“People are demanding to have respect to their votes,” he added.
“I am pleased to see that the people are getting smarter and are revolting. They should as their elected leader was thrown out by four to five people without [logical] reason,” Nawaz said, adding that it was important to stand up against injustice.
Responding to the decision of the Supreme Court in Panama leaks case, the former president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz claimed that no one had accepted his disqualification on Iqama.
“One has to call a spade a spade; what’s wrong is wrong”.
Talking about the Senate elections and some parties bagging seats not having requisite members in the Upper House in the provincial assemblies, Nawaz said, “this shows rigging”.
“It is crucial to get to the bottom of this. This system should change. This game of money should be buried. This has happened in the past but this time it was too open and brazen,” he said, referring to allegations of horse-trading in the Senate elections.
The deposed prime minister also urged for accountability of those involved in horse trading and use of money in the Senate elections.
Earlier, during the court hearing defence counsel Khawaja Haris completed cross-examination of the prosecution witness in the supplementary reference in Flagship Investment reference against Nawaz and his family members, and later the hearing in the case was adjourned until March 7.
On previous date of hearing, the witness Abdul Hanan recorded his statement and presented documentary evidence relating to the case, which was made part of the file on the direction of the court.
On the outset of Monday’s proceedings, defence counsel sought exemption from personal presence of Nawaz Sharif in the court during the hearing for the day owing to his bad health, which was granted and Nawaz Sharif along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar left the courtroom after marking their attendance.
Agencies add: Talking to media on his arrival in accountability court for appearance, Nawaz’s son-in-law Muhammad Safdar also demanded that public mandate should be respected.
He alleged that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for demanding the return of former president Pervez Musharraf to face the cases against him.
He said that Musharraf should appear in court instead of taking shelter in foreign country.
Safdar said they are supporters of Charter of Democracy.
PML-N leader said that not only Senate, but procedure of other departments also needs change.
Elderly people should be allowed to take rest as half of the brain stops working after an age of 60 years, he added.
Nawaz urges revolt against ‘vote rejection’
Abrar Saeed