It is not justice: PML-N leaders

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders said on Friday that rejection of Nawaz Sharif’s review petition was not justice and added they had speculated the result but even then they opted for the review petition.Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the PML-N opted for the review petition in the Panama Papers case judgment to seek justice.

Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, he said the Supreme Court is the highest institution for seeking justice. He said supremacy of institutions should be upheld and the PML-N believed in this principle. Saad Rafique said, “PML-N is a major ruling party of the country and it is its responsibility to run the government according to the Constitution and the law.”

He said at a time when the world powers were apprehensive about Pakistan, internal conflicts could not be afforded. He said Pakistan was facing internal and external threats. He asked the political parties to accept others with open hearts.

Saad Rafique said the government had an idea of Friday’s decision of the Supreme Court but they still decided to go for a review. “The PML-N is the country’s biggest and mature political party, which does not wish to seek a clash among state institutions.”

“We don’t want anyone to repeat the mistakes including us,” he said adding that in an atmosphere where the US president made such dangerous remarks, the country needed to stand united.

He requested political workers to consider the Sunday’s by-election in NA-120 as just an election and nothing more. “We need to tolerate each other with patience and just let the people decide on their own,” he suggested.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Interior Muhammad Talal Chaudhry said the Supreme Court did not evaluate the pleas against the Panama Papers case judgment.Speaking to a private TV channel, Talal Chaudhry said, “No review has been carried out on the review petition. All our main points regarding the right to a free trial have not been considered. The party will decide on its legal and political options after consultation.

“We are seeking a review of the country’s judicial system and talking about a grand national dialogue because if a prime minister cannot get justice, how a common person can,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, on the occasion, Minister of State for IT Anusha Rehman Khan said the dismissal of review petitions of the Sharif family and Ishaq Dar was astonishing. “The honourable bench assured us during the last three days that our rights will be protected at all costs but while dismissing the references, the bench has not mentioned any such thing,” she lamented.

“We are concerned if a monitoring judge who has ruled against us remains on top of the case, it will influence the lower court,” she added.Anusha Rehman said, “Though our applications for review have not been accommodated, we hope that fairness of trial before the accountability court will be ensured.”

She expressed the hope that their fundamental rights would be protected as was assured by the honorable members of the bench. She said that the people would decide on 17th September and in 2018 general elections whether disqualification of Nawaz Sharif was right or wrong.

Special Assistant to the PM on Law and Justice Barrister Zafarullah Khan said that they believed in the Constitution and democratic system of the country. He said despite the fact that Nawaz Sharif could have challenged the jurisdiction of the court at the initial stages of the case, he did not do so, instead he presented himself for accountability as he respected the court.

Barrister Zafarullah said the party had faith in the Constitution and the system. He said the dismissal of their review petitions was not the end of the world. This decision was similar to the one in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Zafar Ali Shah and Maulvi Tameezuddin cases. History and people would decide on its merit, he said adding that they were not anarchists.

Zaffarullah said they are a democratic party and thus accept the verdict.Sharing his party’s plans to improve the system, he said that they had already pushed a bill in parliament to place a right of appeal in cases taken up by the apex court under Article 184(3).In response to a question, he said that a judge of the Lahore High Court was also named in the Panama Papers and wondered why a case was not being pursued against him.