The federal government is stalling on implementing the Supreme Court’s orders to cover up corrupt practices of its coalition partners, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said.
“The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will hold a party convention on July 27 after which we will hold a high-level party meeting to draw strategies to force the government to obey court rulings,” Shahbaz said at a press conference held on Tuesday at his Model Town residence in Lahore.
Announcing war against the federal government, he said that he was willing to sacrifice his own government to ensure that the judiciary’s verdicts in the corruption scandals, such as the Hajj scam and the National Insurance Company Ltd land scam, are honoured. “The PML-N will support the judiciary if it asks for the military’s help to implement its verdicts,” he said.
Shahbaz said that President Zardari is the biggest hurdle in the way of an independent judiciary. “Zardari wants Dogar courts from where he can get a ruling of his own liking,” he said.
Asked why the court is not initiating contempt proceedings, he said that it was the court’s prerogative and he cannot comment on it. However, he said that the PML-N will not be a silent spectator as the court is humiliated and will take direct action against the federal government. “Defying court rulings will be like spoiling the country’s basics. If needed, we will again launch a long march against the federal government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former law minister Babar Awan has criticised Shahbaz’s speech saying he is ‘politicising’ judicial matters.
“The PML-N is trying to play the judicial card and will fail like [it did] in the past,” Awan told the media at the Governor House. “He has indirectly given a message to the federation that Punjab will defy it.”
He said that the chief justice of Pakistan should take suo motu notice of Shahbaz’s statement in which he has tried to provoke the people against the federal government.
Awan said that before announcing war, Shahbaz should review whether Punjab is itself complying with court orders or not. “The court has also given a verdict against current Lahore police chief for negligence in the Gojra incident but he continues to serve,” he said.
He said that Shahbaz has used unparliamentary language against President Zardari just to provoke the PPP. “There is no constitutional war between the executive and the judiciary in any province and I cannot understand who Shahbaz is challenging in his declaration of war,” Awan said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2011.
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Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Mian Shahbaz Sharif has castigated the federal government for, as he put it, declaring an open war against the judiciary by not implementing its decisions and in the same breath he also vowed to sacrifice his government for restoring the honour of the judiciary. The question, however, is: does he really mean what he is saying? Has Mr Sharif and his party shown the same level of respect to the judiciary that he is expecting from the government now? I am afraid Mr Sharif and his party’s credentials are not so enviable in this respect. People have not forgotten what the PML-N and the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did to Chief Justice (CJ) Sajjad Ali Shah. The spectacle of PML-N stalwarts attacking the premises of the Supreme Court (SC) amply demonstrated their concern towards the dignity of our institutions and is still fresh in the memories of those who witnessed that horrible moment. There is a dictum that it is not important what is being said but what is important is who is saying it. The WikiLeaks has also amply revealed the mindset of Shahbaz Sharif about the judiciary and the CJ. Viewed in the backdrop of the foregoing, the concern shown by Shahbaz Sharif over the non-implementation of the SC decision by the government seems mere politicking designed to settle score with the government.
Before issuing such derogatory statements, Mian Sahib should once recall the wikileaks revelation and their mala-fide intentions towards the honorable judiciary. He is posing like a innocent child, who never committed a sin and passed his life like a clean mirror. Oh sorry, Mian Sahib I forgot to give credit to your party for your great respect to same judiciary in 90,s when In order to consolidate and attain more power, ‘the champion of democracy and independent judiciary’, Nawaz Sharif attacked every individual and institution, he felt could get in the way and challenge his authority. In order to get rid of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who Nawaz Sharif despised, the latter created divisions amongst the judges using the humble services of a former judge, Rafique Tarrar (later President of Pakistan) to make life difficult for the Chief Justice. A group of judges refused to acknowledge CJ Sajjad Ali Shah as the Chief Justice and things got so bad that a number of junior judges made it difficult for him to carry out his duties. Eventually, Sharif ordered his thugs to attack the Supreme Court in order to prevent the Chief Justice from giving a ruling against him. The police did nothing to stop Sharif’s thugs as they attacked and entered the Supreme Court premises. The judges inside the building barely managed to escape. The thugs, led by Sajjad Naseem and Mushtaq Tahir Kheli, Nawaz Sharif’s political secretaries, entered the court chanting anti-CJ Sajjad slogans and destroyed the Court Room. Bravo Mian Sahib, for your principal stand on judiciary, but why don’t you start charity at your own home?
this dude contradicts himself he says something else and does something else
the karachi based media once again resorting to racsim instead of criticising the present govt. for figthing the judiciary to cover up its corruption.
PML-N who is loosing populatity now resorting to street power to gain some mileage.
Regards
Dr. Saleem Siddiqi Johannesburg - South Africa.