SAHIWAL: Had Nawaz Sharif and his party strengthened the parliament and the traditions associated with the parliamentary democracy, he would not have gone through the humiliation he was facing today.

Former prime minister and PPP senior leader Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told Dawn here on Thursday.

He said it was none other than Nawaz who undermined the dream of civilian supremacy in Pakistani politics.

“This will be the second term of any parliament to complete its term and it was sole responsibility of the PML-N to continue what started with completion of term by the PPP’s last government,” he said.

He said Nawaz was now criticising and blaming both the judiciary and the establishment for allegedly hatching conspiracies against his government, but during his tenure he did not bother to take the parliament and its different committees on board with regard to such interference.

He said it was obligatory for Nawaz as premier to tell the parliament what sort of pressure he and his government was allegedly facing from the establishment.

“He (Nawaz) did not even hinted in the parliament that both the judiciary and the establishment were sidelining him,” Mr Gilani said.

Former prime minister Gilani said during his tenure the PPP government called representatives of the establishment in the parliament and its different committees four times for seeking reply on the US marines operation to hunt down Usama Bin Laden and Salala checkpost attack.

“This was done simply to establish civilian supremacy”, he said.

He categorically denied the PPP was striking a deal with the establishment for coming into power. He said the PPP believed in people’s power and “we will come into power with people’s votes and will not use any back channels.”

Without naming anyone, he said those shifting loyalties and joining hands with the PTI would not create a “new Pakistan”. “New Pakistan cannot be established with (the help of) turncoats”, he added.

He said the PML-N government unnecessarily touched Khatm-e-Nabuwat issue which was settled by PPP founder Z A Bhutto. He said Faizabad sit-in was an example of “bad governance”.

Nawaz Sharif was violating the Constitution by ridiculing the superior courts and other institutions, former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said this at Karmanwala where he offered Fatiha for the mother of ex-state minister Syed Samsam Ali Shah Bukhari, our Okara correspondent adds.

He said the PPP would support the Constitution and no one else in the Senate on the issue of census audit. He said the party’s reservations regarding the census results must be readdressed, adding the constitutional cover was mandatory for the census to satisfy political and other segments of the country.

Mr Gilani said the charter of democracy was signed to strengthen the institutions, but the PML-N leadership was ridiculing the same which would be harmful for the politics and democracy in the country.

He said those who created the Khatm-e-Nabuwat issue were yet to be identified as the report of Raja Zafarul Haq was still awaited. He added that he expected the report to have no ambiguity.

He said that the PPP power show in Islamabad had given courage and strengthen to the party.

About US President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding Jerusalem status, he said the Muslim Umma and Pakistan would never accept it.

Mr Gilani demanded initiation of legal proceedings against those who were responsible for Model Town massacre of PAT workers in the light of Justice Najafi’s report.

PPP district president Zaki Chaudhry, Ibrahim Danial and others were also present.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2017