Decision had already been taken: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Monday that he had come to the conclusion that the decision to disqualify him had been taken earlier and the reason in this regard was searched later.

During an interaction with a group of media men, he asked whether there were any courts and judges who would make dictator Pervez Musharraf accountable.To a question, the former premier said that it had been decided by and large that Shahbaz Sharif would stay as Punjab chief minister and would not contest the by-election of NA-120, Lahore. No party candidate for the by-poll has so far been selected.

Nawaz Sharif said in a lighter vein that he was only going to his “home” via GT Road that he had not used since long. He had no plan to put pressure on the judiciary or press for his restoration as the prime minister and even if the Supreme Court judgment was overturned, he would not become the premier, he said.

He disclosed when a judge had stated over lack of promotion of a bureaucrat that the prime minister should know there was still a lot of space in the Adiala Jail, he had written a letter to the then Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali but got no response. The fact of the matter was that the file of the official concerned was not even with his office.

The former prime minister said that the judges’ remarks like godfather, behind every fortune there was a crime and the government was the Sicilian Mafia were inappropriate. In reality, he said, not only he but every member of his family had appeared before the Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

He said only a flimsy ground was made the basis of his disqualification. He said when he had declared millions of rupees, his property and other assets, why he would have concealed a petty amount – the undrawn salary – that he even did not receive from his son’s company. He said he had become its chairman only to get visa. At the time, he was in London that he had to leave after every six months. He wanted to get rid of the frequent visa hassle.

When Nawaz Sharif was pointed out that there were greater risks in traveling by the GT Road, he said Allah Almighty would protect him and he was prepared to pay any price for the nation and Pakistan. “I have pristine objectives to achieve not for my person but for the people. The question is of Pakistan’s future.”

The ex-premier said he was willing to face all circumstances and would not run away. The government was a trust with him not only now but in the past as well and he tried his best to serve the people, he said adding that there was nosaid adding that there was no patch of corruption on him.

He surveyed Pakistan’s history marred by unconstitutional interventions starting in 1958, trampling of the Constitutions and cutting short of the tenures of the prime ministers. Those who had people’s mandate were hanged, exiled or ousted through other means and thus the masses’ will was not respected, he said, adding that Pakistan would not go ahead if institutions did not respect one another.

The former prime minister consciously avoided to answer questions regarding giving a prize posting to former army chief, who wanted to become field marshal, nuclear programme etc., saying he would not speak on sensitive matters. However, he said record was witness that he never accepted foreign pressure and continued the nuclear and missile programmes.

To another question, he said it was Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s own decision not to be part of the new federal cabinet. He said his family had in possession of the original UAE letter, which was duly authenticated, and added that he did not know from where the JIT got documents.

Nawaz Sharif referred to a cartoon that appeared in the New York Times and said this was the bad image of Pakistan being painted abroad. The former prime minister repeatedly stated with vehemence that the “current affairs” had been taking place in Pakistan since the independence while even all other countries of South Asia had set their direction to be on the democratic path all the time.

Pakistan, he said, had to determine its direction and it would collapse if it was unable to do that. “What has happened and what is happening in Pakistan is not seen anywhere in the world. East Wing was severed but we learnt nothing,” he commented.

He said Pervez Musharraf had specifically promulgated the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 to persecute him and frivolous charges like the plane hijacking and helicopter purchase case were framed against him. But he admitted that his government could not somehow get rid of this law.

Nawaz Sharif laid out a roadmap as a result of national dialogue to be participated by political parties, civil society, lawyers and media so that Pakistan might be saved from an accident. He said that he was ready to constitute fact and reconciliatory commission for the sake of democracy.

As far as he was concerned, he said, he instantly relinquished his prime ministerial office after the apex court judgment showing that he followed the Constitution although he had several reservations about the verdict, he said.

The political parties, civil society and media should think for how long this process of disrespecting people’s mandate would continue, he said adding that it was a point to ponder that a petition that was first dubbed frivolous was later held in order for hearing. He said that it was not appropriate that the mandate of millions of people was thrown away and sent packing by just five people.

He said that before the next general elections, grand dialogue/new social contract needed to be worked out and the forthcoming polls could serve as a referendum on it.

All unprecedented developments – constitution of a bench and later another panel, formation of the JIT, presentation of its fortnightly reports to special bench, monitoring of the proceedings of the accountability court and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by a Supreme Court judge, WhatsApp calls, inclusion of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) representatives in the JIT – had to be looked at, he said. All of their objections were not taken into account.

The former prime minister said whenever there would be proceedings in the accountability court or appeal against its decision, every judicial forum would know that a monitoring judge was sitting over and above everything.

He said he was satisfied that it was not a corruption charge or misuse of official authority allegation that became the ground for his disqualification but his ineligibility was based on a trivial issue.

Nawaz Sharif said they remained part of the entire process as they did not want to give the impression that they were running away from it. He said his well-wishers had counseled him not to appear before the JIT or resign before presenting himself before it but he refused because his hands were clean.

He said the interruption caused by his disqualification did adversely impact development projects to some extent but hastened to add that Prime Minister Shahid Khakan Abbasi and Shahbaz Sharif would look after them well.

Wars took place only during the dictators’ eras while issues were amicably resolved during the politicians’ governments, the ex-premier said. He said he was prepared to talk about the Charter of Democracy (CoD) with Asif Ali Zardari and every other political party so that the recurrent drama might come to an end. He said he was on a noble mission. The ex-prime minister said his lawyer Khawaja Haris was meeting him on Tuesday to discuss the filing of review petition against the July 28 judgment.