- Opposition parties term Panama verdict a ‘charge-sheet’ against ruling family
- Zardari says Pakistan ‘unsafe’ under Sharifs, not to be safe under Imran
- Imran welcomes verdict, asking nation to express gratitude to five-member SC bench
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Thursday sought immediate resignation of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif following the Supreme Court judgment, terming the verdict of a five-judge bench a ‘charge-sheet’ against the ruling family.
Addressing a press conference, former president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari demanded resignation from the prime minister while expressing disappointment over the verdict of the five-member bench. Today, the court has ‘disappointed’ the nation, he said, adding the nation was being ‘fooled by the court’ for the past three months.
He condemned the court verdict, saying his party never had faith in the court. “PPP would take decisions in larger interest of the country, as the prime minister has failed to take the country forward. Now, he should allow someone else to take care of Pakistan. He (PM) failed to even honour his promises made on loadshedding of the electricity,” he added.
The PPP leader said that the entire nation knows today that he (Nawaz Sharif) was not a sharif (noble, using his last name). “Today, ‘every street’ echoes with the slogans against Nawaz Sharif,” he added. Asked what strategy the PPP would adopt in future, he said that the strategy would be devised later.
“We would devise forward strategy after seeing the public posture. We believe that if Pakistan is unsafe under Sharifs, it would be not safe under Imran Khan either,” he added. Zardari chose to target the PTI chairman time and again, saying that he believed that Imran had saved the prime minister by taking him to the top court.
“If Imran Khan would not have gone to the court alone, we could jointly have handled the matter better. If Senator Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan would have pleaded the case, the result would have been different,” he said. Responding to another query, the PPP co-chairman said that he and his son Bilawal Bhutto, the party chairman, would be elected to the parliament in by polls.
Asked whether joint movement with PTI remains open, Zardari said that all options would remain open. “We even expect JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman would rejoin us soon,” he added. On the occasion, Senator Aitzaz said that the majority decision reflects ‘doctrine of necessity’ had been revitalized.
“The judges have disappointed the lawyers’ movement, as the movement had broad social objectives. But the judiciary soon after restoration and even today has disappointed the nation,” he added. Criticising the verdict, he said that the JIT formation was tantamount to providing an opportunity to Sharifs to flee.
However, Aitzaz said that two senior judges have disqualified the prime minister while other three judges have not contradicted their view either. “This could be viewed as a judgment of the court against the prime minister. The court has a soft stance on Nawaz Sharif since 1993. The judgments have been favouring Sharifs despite attacks on the apex court,” he added.
After a brief meeting held at his Bani Gala residence, PTI Chairman Imran Khan was quick to welcome the court verdict, saying that the entire nation should express gratitude to the five-member bench. “A history has been made by the judgment of the apex court. I congratulate the entire nation on this achievement. A history has been made by the court,” he said.
He said that this unprecedented judgment reflects the nation has won its ‘fight against the corrupt ruling clique.’ Flanked by fellow party leaders, he believed that the five judges have ‘rejected’ Nawaz Sharif’s clarification in Panama case and the formation of the joint investigation team means that the money trail by the prime minister has been rejected.
“The court has out-rightly rejected the ‘pack of lies’ submitted by the prime minister and his family members. Two senior judges have immediately disqualified Nawaz Sharif while other three have also not disagreed to their views,” he said. He said that both the judges who disqualified Sharif were going to be elevated as the chief justices of the top court and their verdict should be writing on the wall for the prime minister.
He said that the prime minister should immediately tender resignation and should allow free and fair investigation into the matter. He said that the court itself would monitor the probe and Nawaz Sharif would be investigated the way Uzair Baloch was being investigated by JIT.
He said that if he (PM) would stay, there was no possibility of a fair trial. “This is what Sharif had demanded of (former prime minister Yousuf Raza) Gilani. If he (Nawaz) doesn’t resign, it would hamper investigation,” he said, adding that Pakistan was facing trade deficit, load shedding, economic logjam and other issues.
“Now if he (PM) remains busy in saving him, how would he run the affairs of the country? But if Sharif is cleared of allegations, he may again join as the prime minister,” he argued. “Today, Qatari letter stands rejected and now Hudaibia paper mills case would reopen. Senator Ishaq Dar’s affidavit would also be probed,” he added.
Addressing a press conference, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq also demanded resignation of the prime minister till the finding of the joint investigation team. “After the (court) decision, there is no justification that Nawaz Sharif should hold the post as he should resign immediately,” he said.
Soon after the court decision, the Jamaat called a party meeting which was attended by their legal counsels and then they demanded the resignation of the prime minister. “It would be a great for the country, if the whole bench remained unanimous over the decision,” he said. Today, “it is proved that corruption is at the peak in this country and the prime minister is dishonest,” he alleged.
According to the Jamaat chief, the formation of JIT is a great victory for all the petitioners particularly for his party which had a strong stance from day one that all the matter including the prime minister should be investigated. He said that JIT always investigate terrorists and criminals and now it would investigate the prime minister.
However, he expressed concerns that under the current prime minister how JIT will remain ‘impartial.’ He claimed that his party was first one which started anti-corruption campaign. Siraj said that PPP should have become a petitioner in this case. Advocate Tauseef Asif appreciated the decision, saying the Supreme Court issued the judgment on the basis of law and evidence. -With additional reporting from Obaid Abbasi
