Decisions are disputed, judiciary is not: Saad

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Monday said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its leadership had no conflict or differences with the judiciary “but if an honourable bench gives a decision in contradiction with the law and the Constitution, we have the constitutional and legal right to criticise it.”

“The sitting prime minister was deposed on the assumption that he could have used the salary given by his son, while PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who had repeatedly admitted to owning an offshore company, was allowed to be off the hook, which showed that there exists different criteria of justice,” commented the PML-N leader.

Talking to the media after meeting with PML-N President Nawaz Sharif at his Jati Umra residence, Saad said, “Conflating our right to criticism of certain decisions as head-on confrontation or attack on judiciary as an institution is absolutely wrong as the institution of judiciary has given many commendable decisions while serving the country.”

He condoned the chief justice’s statement that the judiciary should not be cussed out, saying the judiciary should not be disgraced or disrespected. “However, the honourable judges, likewise, should think before passing any remarks if their office and status mandate those remarks or not,” Saad said.

He said witch-hunt of the Sharif family was being carried out in the name of accountability, adding that the accountability process wasn’t transparent and was only a tool to use the people.

“The country will only make progress if institutions work within their limits,” he stressed. The federal minister said well-thought conspiracy was being hatched against the PML-N and added that they had been facing conspiracies for the last four years. “We faced conspiracies for the past four years. A terrible game of accountability is being played with the PML-N," he said.

He said Imran was not acting like a political rival of the PML-N, rather his behaviour was like that of a “saukan” (second wife). He levelled baseless allegations against the PML-N leadership during the Okara public meeting, Saad added.

“We have delivered more than those who we are competing with,” he said. “No one can now say that they have been in the opposition. The PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami have Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government. They are accountable to the people of their province.”

The railways minister said the coming general elections would show which kind of politics was going to win. Imran would if people opted to the politics of abuse and “we will win if they will vote for development”, he added.

He questioned Imran and Sheikh Rasheed regarding the sources from whom they acquire information about who is going to face trial with respect to corruption cases and who is to be dragged [into courts] next. They would have to answer the question, he stressed.

Saad said the concerns of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq should be taken into consideration at every level, as he gave the statement after keenly reviewing the current situation and his words carried weight.

Despite all the tactics being exercised against the PML-N, the party would win next elections with a thumping majority, he added. Saad was of the view that institutional dissonance only benefits the enemies of Pakistan because it stalls the country’s progression towards its socioeconomic goals. “The progress of the country can only be guaranteed when all the institutions move forward as a cohesive unit, working efficiently within their constitutional boundaries, and [they] do not become a threat to one another and do not turn our differences into enmity,” he stressed.