Fundamental rights denied to PML-N: Sana

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said the Supreme Court decision had pushed the country’s largest political party out of the Senate elections and rendered the party candidates independent which would promote the culture of distorting the true representation through buying seats.

Talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N leader questioned whether it was being done to victimise Nawaz and undermine PML-N’s majority representation in the House.

He said the PML-N complied with both the July 28 judgment and the latest one, which was a proof that they not only respect the courts but also their decisions. “We, however, have a constitutional and democratic right to voice our fair comment on these verdicts,” he added.

Rana Sana said the Constitution of Pakistan had created the Supreme Court and therefore the Constitution was more superior to the Supreme Court. “The kinds of decisions being given against Nawaz Sharif are unprecedented not only in the history of this country but also that of the entire world,” he said. He said according to the Constitution, even the Parliament could not usurp the fundamental rights of any individual mention in the Article 8 through Article 28. However, the apex court had denied the PML-N the fundamental right of political association clearly laid out in Article 17 of the Constitution while making a fundamental right deferential to Article 62, 63. This, he said, does not make sense to anyone, not just the PML-N but also legal experts all over the world.

“The people of this country and especially the non partisan legal fraternity are in a state of grief because the doctrine of de facto and de jure prevalent in this country has been guarding the decisions of dictators, Constitution violators, tyrants and PCO judges for the past 70 years,” Rana Sana remarked.

He said the actions of the traitors and those violating the Constitution were given constitutional cover. “The people of Pakistan want to know as to why the actions of Nawaz Sharif, even as a political party leader, were annulled while those of traitors sitting in government positions were given this privilege.”

“I want to say to all those that the politics of this country can only be plus-Nawaz,” he said.

“The people want to know if Nawaz Sharif’s actions of making Pakistan an atomic power, of ridding the country of energy crisis, of eliminating terrorism and bolstering the economy were all the crimes for which he is being punished,” he said.

They wanted to know whether Nawaz was being punished for the same reason Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been as he had become the single most popular political leader of the people of Pakistan, he questioned.