Maryam takes umbrage at CJP for ‘emotional remarks’
Smarting from the Supreme Court’s order for provincial votes in a win for PTI chief Imran Khan, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday continued her tirade against the judiciary for “never daring” to hold military dictators accountable, saying only the elected prime ministers were thrown out of offices.
Echoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the party’s organiser also took umbrage at Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial’s remarks during the hearing on the postponement of polls in Punjab, and quipped that the CJP should have felt emotional when an elected prime minister – Nawaz Sharif – was ousted on the basis of an expired Iqama.
Her statement came after the CJP had remarked during the hearing: “Today, when you go to parliament, you find people addressing the parliament who were till yesterday in captivity, imprisoned, declared traitors. They are now talking over there, and being respected because they are representatives of the people.”
He was referring to the bill aimed at clipping the powers of the CJP and giving the right to appeal in all suo motu cases with retrospective effect sailed through the Senate. The bill, titled the ‘Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023’, seeks to take away the discretionary powers of the CJP to take suo motu notice, form benches and allocate cases in an individual capacity.
Addressing a judicial convention in Rawalpindi a day after the SC verdict, the PML-N scion stated that no court “dared” to stand up against dictators and had their heads bent in front of power. She said, "courts kept throwing out politicians, but never brought a dictator to the courtroom".
“The judiciary validated dictators while ousting or threatening elected prime ministers,” she said, narrating a case told by Nawaz Sharif when a judge messaged him while he was premier and told him to do his bidding or go to Adiala.
She said it has always been those disqualified prime ministers and people who have pushed dictators out, the judiciary, on the other hand, has "never stopped dictators, only stopped democracy".
“Who knows better than the lawyers who were present with Nawaz and PML-N leaders, when Musharraf trapped judges in their homes, that it was Nawaz who came forth to save the judiciary,” she said, adding that the only court who stood up against Gen Musharaf was wrapped up.
'Emotional CJP'
Commenting on CJP Umar Ata Bandial getting “emotional” during the suo motu case of the Punjab polls delay, Maryam said the CJP "should have also been emotional when a democratically elected prime minister was removed from office for keeping one iqama". She stated that the CJP should “have also been emotional when PML-N leaders were disqualified, or tortured for their candour and forced to join the PTI”.
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“I was in Adiala jail, I was in NAB custody for 57 days, but no reference regarding the matter I was taken in custody for was ever filed in court. Why were you not emotional then,” she questioned.
She inquired why the CJP was "not emotional when his own brother judge’s family was thrown out on the street", she said as she named Justice Qazi Faez Isa. "The whole nation saw his suffering because he was a roadblock for the PTI and Imran Khan, and because he followed the Constitution and law”.
She maintained that a "difference of quality is visible between honest judges and those who favoured the PTI".
Taking offence to the CJP's alleged remarks against PDM parliamentarians being in jail till last year and delivering speeches in the lower house today, Maryam stated that "those politicians were incarcerated because the judiciary was lying hostage in the hands of General Faiz [ex-ISI chief]".
The PML-N leader retorted, saying it was “an honour” to go to jail for one’s principles. “I did not cry once when I was incarcerated, because I believed in my cause, my mission and my principle. The journey of truth is never easy,” she said, adding that those who have no principles avoid courts.
Maryam stated that those "who suffered in jail, also suffered false cases under the CJP's nose". “There is no court to which the PML-N has not been dragged. We always appeared before the law because we knew we were innocent,” she said.
Referring to Bushra Bibi's, former first lady, plea challenging NAB call-up notices in the Toshakhana case on the basis of her not being a public office holder, Maryam argued that she was also not a public office holder when she was being taken to courts.
Further raining on the judiciary, the PML-N leader said "Imran snapped his fingers and was given bail from several cases in one hearing, while the PML-N suffered prolonged hearings, and its members suffered in jails".
Speaking about the hearing, she lamented that the CJP did not give the incumbent government's counsels the opportunity to complain, nor the opportunity to speak. She said only PTI leader Asad Umar was asked for advice, "who the PTI itself had removed from the post of finance minister".
“No one in even the PTI listens to Asad Umar,” she remarked amid loud laughter.
Maryam alleged that the CJP did not constitute a full bench to hear the case because he was "afraid the truth would emerge", maintaining that there was no harm in forming a full bench in the case.
She questioned why no suo motu hearings occurred after several audios of judges and other politicians got leaked.
Maryam stated that only by delivering "clean and fair judgments" would the CJP be respected by the nation and globally.
At the outset of the hearing, Maryam said that her “blackcoat sisters and brothers” were her pride and were protectors of the Constitution and the law.