Nawaz’s disqualification harmed Pakistan: AJK PM

LONDON: Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider said that it’s an open secret now that former prime minister and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the weak and unjustified grounds of Iqama and not Panama which was at the centre of case against Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Speaking to media here, Raja Farooq Haider, accompanied by senior minister Tariq Farooq, said that Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification has been rejected by Kashmiris because it’s a well-known fact now that his ouster has nothing to do with accountability but in the process “Pakistan has been damaged”.

Both are visiting European capitals to apprise about the human rights violations of Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces. Raja Farooq Haider gave reference of Kashmir freedom fighter Afazal Guru’s hanging in India which has been called “judicial hanging” by a number of legal experts. He said Afzal Guru was hanged by India to please what’s called collective conscience but no evidence against him has been found linking him with terrorism and the court accepted that there is no evidence against yet he was hanged because that’s what was seen as convenient.

The AJK premier said the case against Nawaz Sharif started on the basis of Panama but ended up on Iqama because no evidence of any kind of wrongdoing in public office was found against Nawaz Sharif but Iqama was used to oust him to “damage Pakistan”.

The AJK premier said that Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) are suffering because India is bombarding them both sides in violation of international laws. He said that governments in Pakistan since 1947 have followed the same Kashmir policy and have always taken up the issue of Kashmir in the right manner advocating right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir.

“We are meeting European parliamentarians and thinktanks for a week to inform them about the heinous crimes India is committing. There’s evidence that India is involved in crimes against humanity.”

 Senior Minister Tariq Farooq said that Nawaz Sharif remains popular amongst his vast support base and beyond and his disqualification has made him more popular because the whole legal; fraternity of Pakistan as well as international community is of the same view that he has been punished to settle political scores.

Tariq Farooq said that Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification has weakened Pakistan’s case at the international level because it has given an impression that a popularly elected leader can be thrown out through courts to manoeuvre political chess game. He said its obvious that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in hurry and now being victimised through media slandering campaign and witchhunt through National Accountability (NAB) courts.