Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Thursday said all institutions should work within their jurisdiction and the government could never think about disgracing the judiciary.
Addressing a luncheon hosted in his honour by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the prime minister said, “Mud-slinging at institutions is tantamount to defaming the country.”
“We can only move forward by working with each other. Pakistan’s strength is in the strength and stability of the institutions,” Ashraf said.
He emphasised that when democratic system was wrapped up, the next attack was on the judiciary.
The prime minister said there was no confrontation between the institutions and stressed that parliament was the mother of all institutions. He pointed out that army had its own system and the parliament its own.
Ashraf said the institutions should not build their own islands as strengthening institutions meant strengthening the country.
The prime minister said the country’s real enemies were extremists and terrorists that were taking the lives of the country’s people.
He said issuing edicts by terrorists declaring the people non-Muslims and casting them to heaven or hell was a mockery of Islam.
“We have to tackle this menace collectively and we must win,” he added.
“Being the prime minister, I have to respect the courts because it is the place where all heads bow down as justice is dispensed there,” he said.
He said democracy was the only system of governance that reflected the aspirations of the people. He said whenever dictators took over in violation of the constitution and against the will of people, the people in the country suffered.
The prime minister urged lawyers to support the philosophy of democracy which was a guarantee to the country’s uplift. He also asked them to diffuse the false impression of differences between the government and the judiciary.
He appreciated the SCBA for following democratic norms while conducting their election and accepting the results with the democratic spirit.
He recalled that Pakistan People’s Party strongly supported the lawyers’ cause and their struggle for restoration of judges.
Ashraf said he himself was the coordinator of Rawalpindi division at that time and galvanised the support of his party workers for the lawyers’ movement.
The prime minister said institutions in the country were passing through an evolutionary stage and added that things would hopefully settle over a period of time.
He announced a grant of Rs 75 million for the building of SCBA and said the government would also provide financial support to lawyers in other areas.
He also announced approval in principle of a housing society for lawyers.
