We will counter PML-N’s ‘movement’ with ours: PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood

• PTI urges SC to take notice of Nawaz‘s contemptuous remarks

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has warned former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif against launching any anti-judiciary movement.

“Nawaz Sharif and his companions are openly, and repeatedly, targeting the judiciary. The former premier is trying to give an impression that the whole judiciary is against him,” said PTI leader Shafqat Mehmood flanked by office bearers of Insaaf Lawyers Forum (ILF) at the party’s secretariat while addressing a press conference on Thursday.

“It is beyond understanding that a former three-term premier is doing so for his own benefits. The Supreme Court (SC) is a constitutional institution and we all need to respect it,” he added.

Shafqat highlighted that the anti-judiciary tirade by Nawaz Sharif will affect international cases, including the one of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav since the PML-N is trying to prove that there are kangaroo courts in Pakistan and their decisions have no worth. “The same impression will go at international level and lessen the respect of Pakistani courts,” the PTI leader reasoned.

Referring to Nawaz Sharif’s announcement about launching a movement for justice, Shafqat said: “PTI will counter Nawaz’s movement. The judiciary and the judges have shown a lot of patience, but there is a limit of everything and that limit has been crossed.” He added, “It doesn’t matter who is the current judge and who was in the past. The way they are speaking about courts, it is hurting the institution. The Supreme Court should take notice of his [Nawaz’s] contemptuous remarks.”

The PTI leader said that institutions are bigger than people and must be respected by all and sundry.

He lashed out at the PML-president and said, “Nawaz has a problem. It has been seen in the past that Nawaz has been praising the judiciary when decisions were coming in his favour. Now, he is hell-bent to destroy the constitutional institutions for his personal sake.”

He went on to say, “When the SC has held him accountable for his 30-years of looting and plundering, he is up in arms against it. He is also targeting the armed forces with the same language. Now cronies of Nawaz Sharif are calling SC judges by names and threatening to expose them. They say judges had developed a grudge against him [Nawaz].”

Answering a question about Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that he is against launching any anti-judicary movement, Shafqat said, “The Sharif brothers are very shrewd. One brother launches an anti-judiciary campaign while other says the opposite. That’s their tactic. They both are two faces of the same coin. Their only purpose is to remain in power through hook and crook.”

The PTI leader also urged the government to resolve problems faced by the sugarcane farmers because they were being forced to sell their crops at Rs150 per 40 kg against Rs180.

To a question, he refuted forming any alliance with Pakistan People’s Party. “In presence of Asif Ali Zardari, there is no such possibility,” Shafqat maintained.

On the occasion, ILF President Umair Niazi said that they have chalked out a comprehensive strategy to counter the former premier’s anti-judicary tirade and will do everything to restore supremacy of the Constitution and respect of the superior judiciary. He refuted the claim of Nawaz Sharif that he launched movement for restoration of judiciary during Musharraf era.

“The judiciary was restored through lawyers’ movement and not by Nawaz’s efforts,” the PTI leader said.

Meanwhile, Punjab PTI President Aleem Khan has said that Nawaz has launched a negative campaign against the judiciary to get the power back but he will not succeed in his nefarious designs. Talking to party leader at the chairman secretariat, he said that the PML-N president can’t escape accountability by criticising the judiciary.