Sharif throws weight behind the court

PML-N chief says all NRO beneficiaries should resign from office and those who don’t should be dismissed.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will support the Supreme Court in its decision over presidential immunity, party chief Nawaz Sharif announced on Friday.

Addressing a press conference at the Punjab chief minister’s secretariat on Friday, Sharif was clear on his views on those who had benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). “All NRO beneficiaries should resign from office and those who don’t should be dismissed,” he said.

Sharif said that his partyhad opposed the NRO’s approval through parliament and wanted the government to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict whole-heartedly. Talking about possibility of political change, Sharif said that all such rumours would die if the government took sincere steps to improve the economy and control the price hike. “When change is destined to come, it comes,” he said. However, he clarified that his party would not encourage a dictator to replace the present democratic government.

Speaking about former president Pervez Musharraf staging a political comeback, he said that in his opinion Musharraf would not return. “I had already demanded that Musharraf should not be allowed to flee. A case should be instituted against him and his associates under Article 6, which the federal government alone can do.”

He said that peace in Balochistan would not  be possible until the murderers of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti were brought to book. “Bugti’s murder case must also be registered against Musharraf and his associates,” he said.

Sharif said that the US court’s verdict against Dr Aafia Siddiqui was deplorable and that former president Pervez Musharraf should be questioned for handing her over to the US. “Musharraf should also be investigated for undoing the Swiss cases,” he said.

Emphasising on good  governance to resolve all issues, he said that the government needed to address the real issues faced by the people. “The government needs to check the waste of money and spend it on relief for the people.”

Referring to the current situation in Indian Kashmir, Sharif said that the PML-N still considered Kashmir a core issue and believed that the Indian government should give Kashmiris the right to self-determination.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2010.