SIALKOT/LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz has assured party workers that the ‘permanent disqualification’ of the PML-N supreme leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as per the Supreme Court judgement will last till those dispensing justice remain at their posts.

While addressing social media workers’ convention on Sialkot city’s congested Railway Road following the verdict on Friday evening, Mr Sharif’s daughter said this was the fourth time the Supreme Court had barred her father from contesting elections for life. “His repeated disqualification has become somewhat of an international joke,” she remarked.

She said the lifelong ban imposed on the former premier was acknowledgement of his growing political popularity by those who did not want to see Mr Sharif in power.

Shahbaz says PML-N has always believed in the supremacy of law and neutrality of judiciary

She claimed Mr Sharif had upheld the prestige of the Supreme Court by presenting himself and his family for accountability.

“We have successfully presented our case in the court of the masses, as the nation already knows the truth regarding the prevailing political unrest in the country,” she said.

She highlighted the need to promote awareness regarding the sanctity of votes, and lauded the government for taking revolutionary steps to improve the economy and energy and education services in the country. “No one can now stem the tide of people’s support for Nawaz Sharif,” she thundered. “Rok sako toh rok lo!” (Stop us if you can)

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif appeared disturbed by the verdict barring his elder brother from holding public office for life.

“Today is a day of trial and tribulation for Pakistan and the whole nation when a national leader, who has made the defence of our country impregnable and was thrice elected prime minister, has been stopped from serving the country through a court judgement,” he was quoted saying in a press release issued on Friday.

“Nawaz Sharif is not the name of an individual but a symbol of ideology and philosophy whose foundations are rooted in the principles of public service, supremacy of the constitution and respect of vote,” he said.

The PML-N president added that the elder Sharif did not need a formal position to serve a political party in particular and people of the country in general.

“Notwithstanding the verdict, the party [PML-N] of Nawaz Sharif is alive and will survive in the future as the largest political party of the country under his guidance,” he said, adding that the PML-N had always believed in the supremacy of law and the neutrality of the judiciary.

However, the government at the Centre outright opposed the Supreme Court’s verdict, and said the court had passed a sentence prior to the announcement of the decision in the Panama Papers case.

The ruling party vowed that despite the verdict, the ex-prime minister would continue to head the ruling PML-N as its supreme leader.

“This is a decision similar to the verdict of hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and killing of prime minister Benazir Bhutto,” said Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, while talking to reporters after the decision of the apex court.

Ms Aurangzeb said, “This decision is the result of a conspiracy by ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’.”

Prime Minister’s Adviser Musaddiq Malik said none of the corruption charges levelled against Mr Sharif had been proved in an accountability court, and yet he had been punished before the final verdict was announced.

Syed Irfan Raza from Islamabad and Amjad Mahmood also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2018