LAHORE: Former senate chairman Mian Razza Rabbani says he has no objection to the Kartarpur Corridor but has reservations on the timing of its opening.

“We’re not against the opening of the corridor but have reservations on its timing. For Indian Occupied Kashmir is under lockdown for the last over 100 days, women there are being raped and youth tortured. It’s not appropriate to send an all-is-well signal to the world through this event,” the PPP senator told media at the Faiz Festival here on Sunday.

Responding to another query about supremacy of law in the country, he lamented that the country lacked rule of law as [state] institutions were not working under their respective constitutional jurisdictions as they meddled into each other’s affairs.

“There’s, in fact, a state of anarchy and all systems have come to a halt. The only way forward is accepting supremacy of the parliament and making all institutions work in accordance with the distribution of responsibilities laid down in the Constitution.”

To achieve the objective, he said, there’s need of a dialogue among the institutions to be led by the parliament, he stressed.

Asked about the Lahore High Court verdict allowing ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for treatment, he said he didn’t wish to comment on it but that Mr Sharif was seriously ill and his condition worsened when he was again taken into custody by the NAB (National Accountability Bureau).

He said he would not term the Sharifs undertaking and the federal government’s decision of not challenging the LHC verdict as a deal because even the medical board formed by the government also declared that the ex-premier was seriously ill. He said he considered it was the best course adopted to permit a former prime minister to get treatment for his ailment.

About the possibility of former president Asif Ali Zardari moving a court of law to get a similar relief, Mr Rabbani said it would be better to transfer the case against Mr Zardari to its original jurisdiction Karachi and as the first step the government should also allow the ex-president to seek medical facility of his choice as per direction of the court in his case.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2019