ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The government sent mixed signals on the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Nawaz Sharif case on Thursday, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi rejecting it, Law Minister Wasi Zafar accepting it and the official spokesperson vague in his reaction.

The Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, went on a warpath with the superior judiciary by rejecting the verdict, describing it as ‘partial’ and made ‘under the influence of political parties’.

He also said he was ready to face a contempt case as well as sacking from the ministry or being barred from contesting elections.

Talking to reporters, Mr Niazi said if the Supreme Court convicted him for expressing a personal opinion, it would be ‘deemed to have been based on personal vendetta’.

Ahsan Iqbal, the PML (Nawaz) information secretary, took exception to the minister’s remarks against the apex court and said it betrayed the government’s discomfiture over the verdict.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Wasi Zafar said the government would accept the decision of the Supreme Court as its ‘duty’ and ‘constitutional obligation’. In a statement, he said the government could not even think of violating a court decision.

“Avoiding altogether the undertaking that was submitted to the apex court, the Nawaz family preferred to leave the country just to avoid imprisonment and now the strategy they are going to adopt will result in a situation in which no foreign country will ever trust Pakistan and Pakistani politicians,” the minister said.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid welcomed the verdict, saying the Sharif brothers had a right under the Constitution to return home and participate in the general election.

Interestingly, Mr Niazi, in an interview to DawnNews TV, made remarks which contradicted the official position. The government spokesman took the judgment coolly: “Today’s Supreme Court decision in Nawaz Sharif’s case will be taken in its true spirit and action will be taken accordingly.”

The spokesperson further said: “All the political and other issues related to this episode are before the people now and we have to respect the verdict of the judiciary and its mandate.

“We will prove to the world that we abide by the law and the Constitution and believe in tolerance and fairness.”

Mr Niazi, however, repeatedly stated he would not accept the verdict. He also said the judiciary should work “in harmony with other pillars of the state, instead of indulging in such an extreme suo motu action”.

He rejected reports about a proposed amendment in Article 184 of the Constitution to curtail the Supreme Court’s powers on suo motu action. “The people expect the apex court to dispose of a large number of pending cases, instead of interfering in administrative issues like traffic jams, Haj quotas.”

Indirectly responding to a query about the high-level meeting chaired by President Pervez Musharraf earlier this week, Mr Niazi said Nawaz Sharif and his supporters were mistaken if they thought the ‘two brothers will return and enter politics’ as they had several cases against them, including extra-judicial killings and corruption.

To a question about the unanimous decision allowing the Sharif brothers to return home, he said: “I do not accept this judgment of the apex court judges as it was already being echoed by the people on the streets of Pakistan for the past one week.”

“The people were dancing in the streets since morning and making ‘V’ signs, which the court endorsed by writing a four-line judgment. What was the urgency in announcing the short order at 5.15pm without giving time to the government counsel to speak out,” a brusque Niazi said.

When asked if he was ready to retract his words, he said: “Never. I stand by my words and will never take them back.” Mr Niazi said he had opposed the filing of the presidential reference against the chief justice because it did not carry ‘substance’. “I had asked the president to withdraw it.” He also said he had opposed the sudden convening of the Supreme Judicial Council.

When asked why had the government failed to accept its mistake after the Supreme Court verdict in favour of the chief justice, he said: “Because the president was under compulsion to send a reference he received from the prime minister.”

The minister said: “Let the president accept the judgment and let the government sack me if it faces embarrassment due to my dissenting remarks. I gave up a cabinet job in 1989 on similar grounds.”

Mr Niazi alleged that the Supreme Court had become “a party under the influence of the parties which had supported the chief justice on the presidential reference issue. It should launch justice party, start politics, and contest elections.”

He maintained that his objection was clear: “The decision should have told the people, not the people should have told the decision in advance”.

In reply to a question, he said the cases in which the Sharif brothers had been convicted, would be reopened as soon as their plane landed in the country because they had not been pardoned in these cases.

He did not agree with an assessment that the verdict was a setback to President Musharraf. According to him, Gen Musharraf can be re-elected in uniform without the court’s intervention as he enjoyed indemnity under the Constitution.

Mr Niazi said if the state of emergency or martial law was imposed, it would not be at the behest of the government or Gen Musharraf. “Only the judiciary’s uncalled for activism will be to blame.”