The government will not write any letter to anyone as long as President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys immunity. These sentiments were expressed by Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon at a news conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
“If someone has a problem, go to parliament and get the immunity law amended. We will not object,” said Memon, adding that the party will not take any unconstitutional steps.
Memon also voiced his displeasure at the direction the judiciary is moving in.
“The judiciary has a soft corner for the Sharif brothers and is ignoring the corruption cases pending against them in different courts.”
The minister said the same people who administered the oath of office to former military dictator Pervez Musharraf as President, then accepted the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and Legal Framework Order (LFO) before taking oaths of their own offices under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), were now conspiring against the PPP. “But we will fight. We have never been afraid of conspiracies and we will not be scared by them now,” said Memon.
He also questioned the judiciary’s silence for two months after the conviction of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, referring directly to his disqualification and the subsequent invalidation of his actions.
“Why did they allow him to govern for two months if it was unlawful? What suddenly went wrong and what was the judiciary trying to prove by invalidating his actions taken during those two months. It is beyond comprehension.”
He claimed that over 200,000 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, yet it was only stressing on President Zardari’s case. “Things would settle immediately if media stopped court reporting for a week.”
Memon said the judiciary has turned a blind eye to cases against the PML-N. “Sharif brothers should come up and face cases pending against them in courts if they were innocent,” he said.
“Nawaz Sharif was well aware of the NRO at the time the Charter of Democracy was signed. The system was being destabilised through a pre-planned conspiracy. Democratically-elected governments should not be provoked to take any wrong step,” added the minister.
On the law and order situation in Karachi, Memon said that something that was not created in a single day could not be brought under control in just 24 hours.
“Military dictator Ziaul Haq gave the gifts of Kalashnikov and drug culture along with target killing and the Taliban to Karachi, which destroyed peace in the city,” he added.
He said his party’s government will complete its mandated term of five years.
The PPP came into power with the mandate of 180 million people and it was only answerable to them for its mistakes, said Memon.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2012.
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