LAHORE: The Supreme Court’s decision of rejecting the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal for reopening the Hudaibya Paper Mills reference has received opposing responses from the ruling and opposition parties as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has welcomed it as a “victory of justice” while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has criticised it as “incomprehensible”.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the apex court’s decision had endorsed his party’s stance, adding that the decision was based on “truth” and “justice”.

In a statement issued here on Friday, he said: “This judgement is a victory for justice and truth and I bow my head before Almighty Allah in gratitude.”

He said he was thankful to the Supreme Court because its decision had upheld the truth and justice. “Today is the most important day of my political life and the allegations hurled on me have proved false and baseless as a result of the SC verdict.”

The chief minister called upon all political forces in the country to shun the politics of confrontation and instead work jointly for the progress of the country. “Time has come that all the political parties and their workers should set aside the traditional politics of weakening each other and utilise their energies for national development and changing lives of the disfranchised segments of society.”

The PPP, meanwhile, expressed dissatisfaction over the apex court’s judgement, saying that it was at a loss to understand the apex court’s decision.

“A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had ordered reopening of the Hudaibya Paper Mills reference, but the decision has been rejected by a three-judge bench,” PPP central information secretary Chaudhry Manzoor said while terming it “incomprehensible”.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017