Govt should not take on the role of SC: Nawaz

LAHORE: The measures taken by the government are “threatening democracy”, chief of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday, adding that the government should not try to take on the role of Supreme Court.

Speaking to the media at the Lahore airport, the PML-N chief said that the government should not take on the role of judiciary, rather follow the court’s directions, adding that the courts were being made controversial by ‘conspiratorial  elements’.

He said that the judiciary was reinstated by the power of the people and public representatives should respect the courts. “The government has the mandate of the people which it should respect and therefore respect the judiciary,” he said.

Deploring the letter written by the official of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to the judiciary as highly condemnable, he said his party cannot keep silent against the smear campaign aimed at keeping government failures under wraps.

The PML-N chief added that he will also not play a silent spectator to the misconducts of the government. “We should support the courts,” he said.

Nawaz said the rulers were running a campaign to cover up their corruption, adding that NAB was established by former dictator Pervez Musharraf to victimize his political rivals.

“The government should expose the suicide bombers present among government ranks, which would ultimately ruin the government to the core,” he said.

Regarding the Data Darbar incident, after which demands were made for the resignation of the Punjab chief minister and other ministers, Nawaz said that terrorist attacks have occurred in other parts of the country but no one was asked to resign then. Similarly, on the return of Benazir Bhutto, 20 people were killed in Karachi, yet no one sought resignations from Musharraf’s government, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2010.