'Enough is enough': Maryam says 'unilateral decisions' won’t be accepted

Reacting to Supreme Court ruling, PML-N leader claims laws were being reinterpreted so that Imran Khan can benefit

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that her party should not be expected to bow down to "unilateral decisions".

The PML-N leader was referring to apex court's short order issued earlier in the day, wherein the top court suspended the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker’s ruling and restrained Hamza Shehbaz to exercise absolute powers and serve only as a “trustee” chief minister until the hearing resumed in Islamabad on Monday.

The ruling came a day after PML-N won a dramatic victory against the PTI that only a few had predicted in the Punjab chief minister’s election, retaining the throne of Punjab after surviving its closest brush with loss in the country’s political heartland.

Warmed in the nick of time by a letter from PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain — instructing his MPAs to vote for PML-N’s candidate — Hamza Shehbaz was declared a victor after Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari ruled that PML-Q members’ votes were not counted in light of party head’s letter.

According to Mazari, Hamza received 179 votes whereas Elahi garnered 176 votes, but only after 10 votes of Elahi’s own party were not counted, which turned the tables in Hamza’s favour.

"If the house of justice also comes under the pressure of bullying, threats and insults, repeatedly makes specific decisions through the same bench and negates its own decisions then we should not be expected to bow our heads in front of such decisions. Enough is enough," Maryam wrote on her official Twitter handle on Saturday.

اگر انصاف کے ایوان بھی دھونس، دھمکی،بدتمیزی اور گالیوں کےدباؤ میں آ کر بار بار ایک ہی بنچ کے ذریعے مخصوص فیصلے کرتےہیں،اپنے ہی دیے فیصلوں کی نفی کرتے ہیں،سارا وزن ترازو کے ایک ہی پلڑے میں ڈال دیتے ہیں تو ایسے یکطرفہ فیصلوں کے سامنے سر جھکانے کی توقع ہم سے نا رکھی جائے۔بہت ہو گیا!

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 23, 2022

The PML-N leader said that the current political chaos and instability began with a court verdict, through which an arbitrary interpretation of the Constitution was issued to not count the votes of those who voted voluntarily.

موجودہ سیاسی انتشار اور عدم استحکام کا سلسلہ اس عدالتی فیصلے سے شروع ہوتا ہے جس کے ذریعے آئین کی من مانی تشریح کرتے ہوئے اپنی مرضی سے ووٹ دینے والوں کے ووٹ نہ گننے کا حکم جاری ہوا ۔آج اس کی ایک نئی تشریح کی جا رہی ہے تاکہ اب بھی اسی لاڈلے کو فائدہ پہچنے جسے کل پہنچا تھا!نا منظور!

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 23, 2022

"Today, it is being reinterpreted so that the same ladla (favourite) can benefit from it again like he had benefitted in the past," she said, referring to former prime minister Imran Khan.