ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Monday he feels ashamed to call Pakistan a democratic country, alleging that there is no democracy in the country that is suffering from what he described as “the worst kind of dictatorship”.

“The existing situation is not less than judicial martial law,” said Mr Sharif in an apparent reaction to the comments of the Chief Justice of Pakistan without elaborating. His latest diatribe against the judiciary came after attending legal proceedings in the accountability court.

Mr Sharif has been facing three references, including Avenfield properties case, filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a Supreme Court directive.

He continued his criticism of the CJP alleging that Mian Saqib Nisar seemed more interested in prices of potatoes, onions, medicines and transport fares than disposal of 1.8 million cases pending with the judiciary for decades.

Chides existing parliament for ‘lacking guts to discuss matters related to judiciary’

“Did the CJP ever visit the house of the aggrieved person who has been waiting for a just verdict for the past three decades? He should have monitored the progress of a 40-year-old pending case related to the ownership of five-marla house. The CJP should also visit the subordinate judiciary, which is in fact his ultimate responsibility being the head of the judiciary,” Mr Sharif said. “Please let others do their job,” the former premier said, alleging that the CJP summoned provincial chief executives and humiliated them.

Criticising the recent media censorship, Mr Sharif said: “We never witnessed such restrictions and censorship on the media and other institutions even during the martial law regimes. I may disagree with the remarks of the chief justice but if he can say anything, he should also be courageous enough to listen to what others say about him. However, the media censored the stance of the other side.

“They are silencing Nawaz Sharif, silencing the media and anchorpersons. This is not a country that belongs to a single person but it is a country of 220 million people. They also want to be heard and they also have a worth. Everyday they are issuing such orders that are completely deprived of any logic. Everybody is thinking how this could be done, how this is possible. What direction they are heading this country towards and which country’s judiciary do things like this?” In reply to yet another question whether or not they would discuss the issue of judiciary at the parliamentary forum; he said that parliament had no guts and powers to pursue such matters. He hoped that the next parliament would have powers and guts.

Criticising the Supreme Court decisions that disqualified him from holding offices of the prime minister, party’s president and subsequently barred him from contesting elections for life, he said: “Nobody accepted their decision, not even the petitioner Imran Khan, legal experts and public at large.”

Referring to the statement of Jamaat-i-Islami chief Siraj-ul-Haq that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had “received orders from the top” to vote for the Senate chairman, he said this statement was quite meaningful. He said: “At last the truth has surfaced. We had been continuously saying that the election of Senate chairman has been done at the behest of someone else.”

Nawaz asks Imran to grill Sarwar

He said PTI chief had scolded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers for selling their votes. PTI chief Imran Khan should also be reprimanded and asked at whose behest he voted for Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and directed PTI lawmakers to vote for Pakistan Peoples Party candidate for deputy chairman, said Mr Sharif.

“Imran Khan should also inquire Chaudhry Sarwar how he got elected as senator. In the last month Senate elections, only the PML-N has been vindicated and the point of view of our allies including Fazalur Rehman, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Hasil Bazinjo has proven right.”

Regarding a question about the visit of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif to Karachi, the PML-N’s supreme leader said he had asked him to visit Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He, however, skipped the question whether the Punjab chief minister had also met Chaudhry Nisar on his advice.

Court proceedings

While the former premier and his daughter Maryam Nawaz arrived back from the UK to attend the court proceedings after being denied week-long exemption from personal appearance, the star witness who headed the Panamagate Joint Investigation Team Wajid Zia was absent on Monday.

Subsequently, the accountability court adjourned the proceedings till 2pm when another prosecution witness, NAB’s International Cooperation Wing head Zahir Shah, was supposed to submit the additional documents related to Avenfield properties and companies owned by Mr Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz that NAB had recently received from the Central Authority of the UK.

Along with the documents, NAB’s ICW head also produced copies of utility bills and detail of taxes payment to the accountability court.

While the defence counsel, Khawaja Haris Ahmed, objected that the documents were neither original nor properly attested, prosecution counsel head Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said certification was not mandatory for the documents received through mutual legal assistance (MLA).

The accountability court summoned Mr Zia again to testify in Al Azizia reference against Mr Sharif and later adjourned the proceeding till Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018