FAISALABAD/NAROWAL: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has alleged that Supreme Court’s is being used as a cover to topple the democratic government of Nawaz Sharif, apprehending that if it happens the country will face instability.

Addressing a gathering at the Municipal Corporation office here on Monday, he said the nation would not accept if the 58(2) B (now abolished clause of the Constitution used in the past to oust elected governments) was used in the garb of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. Article 58(2) B was a tool of the dictators to send the democratic governments home only to replace them with their favourites, he added.

He said an elected chief minister (Pervez Khattak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) “attacked” Islamabad following their (PTI’s) lock down call, but no notice was taken against that illegal conduct.

“Are the articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution meant for Nawaz Sharif only,” the minister asked. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had completed various projects worth trillion of rupees, but his rivals could not point out plunder of even a single penny from the national exchequer.

Mr Sanaullah, who has been defending the prime minister and his family since surfacing of Panamagate, wondered that now Mr Sharif was being asked to provide decades-old details of his family business.

Listing Nawaz Sharif’s services for the country, he said the prime minister should be given the due credit for his struggle for “eliminating” the menace of power outages and terrorism.

The law minister said political rivals of Nawaz Sharif feared that the masses would again elect him in the next general election because of his performance, adding that due to their fear “some unscrupulous elements” were hatching a conspiracy against Pakistan. However, he hoped, such elements would not be allowed to achieve their targets and the judges (hearing the Panama case) would foil their bid.

Alluding to late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s ouster in a military coup, he said the country was still facing repercussions of that unconstitutional act, adding only the masses had the right to oust a government through the power of their votes.

The minister asked why the recent media talk of senior politician Javed Hashmi was being ignored.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering at Kanjroorh town of Narowal district that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to start his business (in the Gulf) only after being forced into exile by dictator General Pervez Musharraf.

He said since the inception of Pakistan only 16,000MW power projects were established, while the present PML-N government alone had generated 10,000MW electricity during the last four years and put it on the national grid owing to which “darkness was fading and the wheel of progress was running”.

He also claimed that under the present government the country’s foreign reserves went up from eight billion dollars to $22 billion.

Rapping Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for what he called their failure to build a “new Paksitan”, he said the KP government could not even start Metro buses in Peshawar, but Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif launched the transport network in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan and was now going to start Orange Train in the province.

Ahsan Iqbal said Imran Khan was “deceiving” the nation by blaming Nawaz Sharif for corruption.

He also quoted budget figures to establish that education was a priority for the PML-N government, adding that varsities would be established in every district.

Local MPA Rana Mannan and district council chairman Ahmad Iqbal Chaudhry also spoke. A large number of party workers were present.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017