PML-N dismisses cables

Terms the leaks ‘fake’, while leaders of the lawyers’ movement say it shows PML-N’s ‘actual face’.

LAHORE:

Second-string leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have  dismissed as fictitious a WikiLeaks cable claiming that the Punjab chief minister was once ready to remove the chief justice. However, none of the party’s senior leaders have contested the cable’s authenticity.

However, a leader of the lawyers’ movement has said that following the release of the cable, PML-N’s claim of being on the forefront in Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s restoration has been exposed as untruthful.

The cable quoted Shahbaz as saying in a private conversation with US diplomats that the future of the then deposed CJ was up for negotiations.

Shahbaz had said that following the restoration, the PML-N was prepared to end the issue and remove the CJ once and for all, reported Lahore Consulate Principal Officer Bryan Hunt in a secret American diplomatic cable describing his meeting with Sharif on March 14, 2009.

PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told The Express Tribune that the cables have not quoted Shahbaz as directly expressing or saying his willing before Hunt. He said that in cables, Hunt’s assessment of Sharif was based on an impression. Haq added that it was Hunt’s personal opinion and was not necessarily true. As such the PML-N was committed to restoring the CJ and had succeeded in doing so.

On the other hand, PML-N MNA Naseer Bhutta completely rejected the revelations terming them ‘ridiculous.

Senior adviser to the Punjab CM Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa pointed out that at the time Shahbaz was not the chief minister of the province since his government had been pulled down by the Dogar court for supporting the restoration of Chaudhry.

Although the spokesman for the Punjab Government Senator Pervez Rashid did not reject the revelations, he defended the role that the PML-N played in the restoration of CJP.

Hamid Khan, one of the leaders of the lawyers’ movement, told The Express Tribune that PML-N’s public stance over the restoration of judiciary has been exposed, adding that some political parties have double standards.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2011.