My ouster stalled economy: Nawaz

LAHORE: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said restoration of true justice would not only be the slogan of the PML-N’s movement but also be the core manifesto agenda for the 2018 elections. Economy had plunged after my ouster, he added.

Addressing a convention of PML-N social media at the party’s Model Town office, Nawaz said Pakistan’s history showed that the dictators bulldozing elected governments, trampling upon the Constitution and people’s rights were always welcomed by the judiciary, which garlanded them with flowers, legitimised their rule and gave them a free hand to plunder the country’s resources.

About Imran Khan, he said the favourite had been spared. “Imran Khan confessed on national television that he owned the assets while the judges, instead of admitting that confession, are telling Imran that those assets don’t belong to him. Thank God, they did not go to the extent of saying that even those assets belonged to Nawaz Sharif,” he remarked.

“Woh [Imran] keh raha hai ke yeh mera asasa hai, adliya kehti hai nai nai puttar ae tera nai, puttar sanu pata ay tu Sadiq te Ameen ain [Imran was admitting that those undeclared assets where his but the judges were telling him, Son! You don’t understand you are ‘Sadiq and Ameen],” he added.

“Our opponents are fooling nobody but themselves by calling this ‘Movement for Restoration of True Justice’ as confrontation with judiciary. The person who risked his life for the judiciary of this country understands the pivotal importance of judiciary for any civilised society. The honour and dignity of judiciary, however, is in the provision of transparent and unbiased justice. Courts lose their credibility and dignity if they fail to provide justice. The day justice and impartiality starts ruling Pakistan, everyone would bow their heads down in respect for the courts,” said Nawaz.

The ousted prime minister said, “We have been living in a sovereign country for 70 years, but the dream and vision of the Quaid has still not come true.” “We need to have a serious conversation regarding where we are at after these 70 years, a conversation about freedom and the rights of an individual in a sovereign free country, a conversation about supremacy of the Constitution and the rights of the people to govern themselves through democratic representation, a conversation about the sanctity of a Pakistani’s vote and conversation regarding law and justice, a conversation about democracy and the repeated attacks on democracy in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The sorry state of these affairs is saddening to say the least, but we have to ensure that our present and future are better than our past”, he said.

The former premier said, “World over the right to govern is of the democratically-elected representative by the people, but not in Pakistan. Pakistan has turned into a unique country with unique criteria where offshore companies of some are legal while that of others are illegal, a country where some beneficial owners of undeclared properties are legal while all others illegal, a country where for one family a special cherry-picked JIT is formed under fictitious circumstances, while the lies and dishonest of the darling are covered-up.”

“The enthusiasm of the youth in today’s meeting is such that it feels as if it’s Election Day tomorrow. If this spirit continues in elections, all plans of our opponents will fail and the PML-N will score a historic win,” said a confident Nawaz.

“Take this message home and spread it to your friends and family and add them to this revolution and create such a force by the time,” he told a charged crowd, adding, “This agenda is not just PML-N’s agenda. It is the agenda of Pakistan.”

About his disqualification, Nawaz said, “Imran himself is now saying that if Nawaz was to be convicted, he should have been sentence over Panama papers.

“This so-called disqualification decision has stalled growth and progress of Pakistan. The forex reserves have plummeted, Pakistan’s GDP’s growth too has become unstable,” said Nawaz who also mentioned the downward trend experienced by stock market.

He said no verdict could be passed in the Pervez Musharraf case for years but the judgment against him was issued within weeks, adding that whether court would ever be formed to punish the dictator. “This injustice and double standards will not be allowed to prevail”, he said, as the crowed echoed his statement.

“It is a universal statute that everyone is innocent until proven guilty but not in Pakistan, worldwide fair trial is the right of every individual but not in Pakistan, everywhere in the world accused have the right to appeal but not in Pakistan. These incomprehensible decisions of these new-fangled courts where there is no precedence, no argument, no lawyer and no appeal,” he said.

About his achievements, he said, “Remember the promise Nawaz Sharif made to the nation that he will end electricity loadshedding and today we have fulfilled that promise made with the nation. It was not an easy task at all, it was one of the most difficult tasks but it did not matter because Nawaz Sharif always takes on difficult tasks and accomplishes them for the nation.”

The PML-N chief said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif worked shoulder-to-shoulder with him and constructed a number of power plants just in months. “We build so much capacity that today we have surplus electricity. Bringing 20 hours loadshedding down to zero over four years is such an extraordinary feat that it would go down in the history of Pakistan as a precedence of the most aggressive and effective success story,” he noted.

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz, in her address, said Nawaz Sharif was attacked because he chose the right path over the easy one and stood for civilian supremacy because “there is no room for the doctrine of necessity in the doctrine of democracy”.

Nawaz knew the price of exhibiting the courage to say no to dictation and to take a principled stand by saying ‘over my dead body’, she said. “In this country, there are puppets and puppeteers. God does not bestow everyone with the gift of this courage,” she added.

Maryam said Nawaz had an easier path to tread if he would have chosen to nod in agreement with everything he was being told to do and all the fake Panama fiasco would have faded away.

“There is no room in democracy for puppets that wait for a signal by the umpire. Five people cannot enforce their will upon the will of 220 million people,” she stated. She said the government faced attacks one after the other in the form of sit-ins and Dawn Leaks, as Nawaz decided to hold the dictator accountable for violating the Constitution. “The attack on elected premier is an attack on every voter,” remarked Maryam.

”Our opponents are scared of PML-N’s social media force,” Maryam said, adding that the party’s social media team was effectively spreading the ideology of Nawaz across Pakistan. “PML-N’s social media activists were abducted. Foes are scared of PML-N social media cell,” added Maryam, requesting Nawaz to take action if any worker or member is threatened, harassed or abducted.

The PML-N leader blasted the critics for claiming that Nawaz’s love for civilian supremacy had surfaced only once he was disqualified. “Had this been a selfish act, the basic instinct of self preservation would have pushed him to leave the country. But Nawaz Sharif decided to stand his ground and fight for the supremacy of civilians and sanctity of vote for the future of Pakistan despite the victimisation and hardships faced by his family,” Maryam told the audience.