Giving NRO to powerful Musharraf’s biggest injustice: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that a country does not become a banana republic due to the non-availability of resources but because of the absence of the rule of law, as the powerful rule there.

He was addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the District Courts building here on Tuesday. The prime minister explained that it was mentioned in the history on which day the migration happened, when had the Makkah was triumphed and Jang-e-Badr fought, how Arabs prospered so rapidly and led the world, and how two of the four Caliphs appeared before courts for everyone was under the law.

He contended that the sayings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) should be taught in academic institutions that how the nations were destroyed after the laws were different for the powerful and the weak and the Holy Prophet said that even if His daughter would commit a crime, she would also be given punishment.

“Our country’s dilemma has been the same; two Pakistans existed, there was one set of rules for one and another for the second one,” he noted. He recalled having entered politics on seeing Pakistan getting down while other countries of the region, including India and Bangladesh, were moving forward. He added there was a time in the 1960s when Pakistan was a model of development for other countries.

The prime minister said that people would say in drawing rooms that Pakistan would now prosper after East Pakistan had parted ways, being a burden. He singled out the absence of rule of law as one major reasons for Pakistan’s woes while the rest of the issues, he emphasised, were just symbolic.

Imran regretted that the powerful sections, who were given NRO by former president General Pervez Musharraf, had robbed the people of their money, not him, so how could he take unilateral decisions of giving NRO.

“The biggest injustice done to the country by former president and All Pakistan Muslim League Chief General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was that he first broke the Constitution and then gave NRO to the powerful class,” he maintained.

In addition, Imran Khan said that due to the lack of rule of law in Pakistan, our country has lagged behind most other countries in Asia in terms of development. Prime minister said that nations develop on the basis of rule of law and many countries improved their system after seeing Pakistan in the 60s but then after 80s Pakistan began to decline in every field.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that there are two laws in force in Pakistan, one for the powerful and the ruling class and the other for the common man. “It is a depressing situation where the justice system is divided into two parts.”

“What could be more unfortunate for the country than that the rulers of the past did not care about providing justice to the nation. The United States does not care about the International Court of Justice because the powerful always want to be above the law but civilised sacrificed a lot and in fact, that struggle consisted of the rule of law in which you were sending a message to a dictator that he can’t do that. However, he regretted that the fruits of the struggle had not come to fruition.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, referring to overseas Pakistanis, said that there are 9 million Pakistanis in different countries and their GDP is almost equal to the country’s GDP, but what is the treatment for them in our country that they hold back their investment.

He added that when the overseas Pakistanis buy a plot here, it is occupied and if the matter goes to court, it takes years, but there is no occupation group in Europe because there is a law. Imran lauded the decisions of Chief Justice Athar Minallah and said that his decisions are very important for our society, especially the decisions related to the environment.

Prime Minister addressed the judiciary and assured that the government would extend all possible cooperation to provide the necessary resources for the delivery of speedy and inexpensive justice.