SARGODHA: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has lamented that the country’s courts had declared Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan Sadiq and Ameen even though he had admitted to owning an offshore company, evading taxes, using zakat funds to gamble, being involved in corruption, and failing to provide a money trail.

Addressing on Saturday a large gathering at Kot Momin, located some 45km from here, the former prime minister and his daughter Maryam Nawaz lashed out against “certain quarters involved in weakening democracy” and announced a countrywide movement for the revival of justice.

“The mammoth gathering at Kot Momin has given its verdict, in the form of a referendum, against the Supreme Court’s ‘biased’ judgement,” Mr Sharif declared. “I am at a loss for words to express my gratitude for the warm welcome I have received at Kot Momin and the enthusiasm of the youth,” he said, while promising to build a university there after coming to power in the upcoming general elections.

He said the people of Pakistan had earlier rejected the court’s judgement against him during his homecoming rally on the GT Road. The gathering at Kot Momin was ample proof of where the public stood with regard to the verdict issued by the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, he added.

Ousted PM announces countrywide movement for ‘revival of justice’

Delayed and biased justice had become the order of the day, the former PM regretted, adding that he had read in a newspaper about an under-trial suspect who, after spending 26 years in prison, was acquitted of all charges after he died. The public was then justified to raise questions over this kind of justice, and ask on what grounds the Supreme Court had disqualified an elected prime minister without any proof of committing corruption, he said.

Mr Sharif added that he had been sacked because “I have not received salary from my son’s company on the basis of holding Iqama” but those who “took” money from this country and looted its resources were roaming free. He added: “Five judges disqualified me but I enjoy massive mandate of the public... they will not tolerate this insult.”

He announced that he would not rest easy, “and neither will the people”, till the judiciary was improved.

Addressing the gathering, Maryam Nawaz said that Mr Sharif would win in the upcoming general election regardless of whether “he is disqualified or qualified... because the people love him”.

The former prime minister was sacked on the basis of a report put together by a joint investigation team constituted on WhatsApp messages, she alleged.

“Who saved the country’s sinking economy, laid a network of roads, ended terrorism and loadshedding from the country within four years?” she asked, adding that Mr Sharif had achieved all that even though some miscreants had been trying to sabotage his efforts for development.

She alleged that some conspirators were hiding under the umbrella of two institutions that had attacked an elected prime minister in a democratic country and set up a treacherous plan to corner Mr Sharif. She added that these conspirators were easily frightened by the power of the people on the roads in support of Mr Sharif.

“Retired General Pervez Musharraf, who destroyed the very foundation of rule of law in Pakistan, was being given undue protection,” she claimed, lamenting that the military dictator who had attacked the parliament and judiciary had walked free.

She stated that people of Pakistan had come forward to protect the sanctity of vote and to right the wrongs done to Mr Sharif. The allegations used to disqualify Mr Sharif were a mere joke, she said dismissively, while questioning why there had been such a hurry to oust the ex-PM when general elections were around the corner.

Commenting on the Supreme Court’s judgement against PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, she asked why his case was not referred to the National Accountability Bureau or investigated by a JIT.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2018