September 09, 2007	Sunday	Sha'aban 26, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 8: Former president Rafiq Tarar belies the government’s claim that his order of remitting sentence of Nawaz Sharif in a high treason case in 2000 was conditional.“Article 45 of the Constitution authorises the president to suspend, remit or commute the punishment given by any court, tribunal or authority to anyone and it does not attach any condition with this power of the president,” he told a group of reporters here on Saturday.He said as he had remitted Nawaz Sharif’s sentence, the government’s claim that the penalty could be revived in case the exiled PML-N leader did not act on any agreement was just a baseless threat.

Wherever the constitution or any law attached any condition to a step, the condition was mentioned also there in clear terms, said Mr Tarar who is also a retired judge of the Supreme Court. He said continuation of the army government and absence of Nawaz Sharif would increase instability in the country.

He recalled that the country was bifurcated under a military rule while it lost Siachin to India during another army regime. The situation under the present army set-up was the worst as even sovereignty of the country was at stake because Nato forces were conducting strikes within Pakistan without seeking any formal permission from Islamabad, he added.

Criticising arrests of the PML-N workers, he regretted that the sanctity of ‘chaddar’ and ‘chardewari’ was being violated by raiding houses of activists and misbehaving with the women.