ISLAMABAD, May 27: Terming dictatorship in a nuclear-powered country a recipe for disaster, former prime minister and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has called for ensuring supremacy of national leadership in national security policies, strong parliament and independent judiciary to maintain the atomic deterrence.
“Otherwise, Pakistan’s nuclear capability can become a charge-sheet against it,” he said in a message on the eve of the ninth anniversary of Pakistan’s nuclear tests.
On May 28, 1998 Pakistan gave a matching response to India's nuclear tests and became the seventh nuclear power of the world.
There are no official celebrations to mark the day but the PML-N, which takes credit for conducting the nuclear tests, has chalked out an elaborate programme to observe what it calls the ninth Yaum-e-Takbeer in a befitting manner. The day was officially celebrated in 1999 but has never been acknowledged at the official level since the ouster of the Nawaz Sharif government.
Nawaz Sharif said the May 28 nuclear tests were first steps towards transforming Pakistan into a strong and prosperous country. He said his government had planned revolutionary steps for education, development and prosperity in the next phase, but could not do it as a result of military intervention.
Accusing the present rulers of giving nothing but price hikes, lawlessness, unemployment, poverty and chaos, he said that these maladies were weakening Pakistan internally. He said that nuclear power alone “cannot guarantee the security of a country, unless there was public unity and political stability”.
He said that the rulers’ attack on the judiciary’s independence posed a far more serious threat to the country than a nuclear war.
Highlighting the importance of justice, he urged the nation to rise to defend the rule of law and judiciary’s independence and said it was vital to secure the country’s future.
He said that the PML-N was proud of its achievements during its tenure, adding that it had made Pakistan’s defence impregnable by providing it with nuclear deterrence. He said his government had proved that decisions about Pakistan’s future were taken nowhere else but in Islamabad, “but the present rulers have negated this ... by adopting a foreign policy based on fear and humiliation”.
Nawaz Sharif said there was a need to understand that nuclear capability also brought responsibilities with it. He said besides having nuclear capability, there was also a need for making national institutions strong, to get Pakistan internationally recognised as a responsible nuclear state.
Meanwhile, the PML-N will take out rallies in all district headquarters to mark the anniversary of the May 28 nuclear tests.
PML-N has also planned elaborate functions in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
A rally is also being planned to be organised in Faisalabad followed by a public meeting, featuring telephonic address of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif from London.
Functions are also planned to be organised in various countries. Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal, Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Pervez Rashed and Nadir Chaudhry are expected to attend a ceremony in London.