Major political parties on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict disqualifying Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and maintained that it would not harm the teething democracy in the country. Hailing the verdict, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that to ensure rule of law in the country, implementing the decisions of apex court was a must.
"The verdict of Supreme Court has set a new precedent, boosting confidence of the common man that everybody is equal before the law. One should keep in mind that if you are convicted, you are not qualified to hold a public office," said PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal.
He made it clear that his party would not allow anybody to harm the democratic system in the country. "Any unconstitutional step or any move which harms democracy, will be foiled...people of Pakistan know how to protect democracy and the constitution," he maintained.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which had also filed a petition in Supreme Court challenging the ruling of Speaker National Assembly, showed full confidence in the SC decision. PTI Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the decision would boost the democratic set up, which according to him was at stake due to incompetence of PPP-led regime and rampant corruption in the country.
"I don't see any threat to democracy as there are different options i e you can elect a new prime minister, hold early elections...nobody is against democracy and the whole nation wants to bolster the democratic system," he observed. He suggested the government to implement the verdict in letter and spirit and elect a new leader of the house from the party as it enjoys majority seats in the National Assembly.
Lauding the apex court decision, Deputy Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch said that by not accepting the earlier verdict of Supreme Court, Gilani wanted a confrontation with the judiciary. "He [Gilani] should have accepted the apex court verdict as he was a democratically elected prime minister but all his actions regarding court verdicts were shameful...now the PPP should elect a new prime minister," he added.
However, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bazinjo of National Party - a Baloch nationalist party - expressed dismay over the verdict, saying that it will send a wrong message to the world. "This is very unfortunate that top court of the country disqualified an elected prime minister...he [PM] has been disqualified at a time when the whole world has singled out Pakistan, so I don't think it is a good decision," he added.
When contacted Haji Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP) - a coalition partner of the government - said that since PPP had accepted the decision, his party also had no objection. However, he said that he would be able to comment on the verdict in detail after a meeting of all coalition partners.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) endorsed the verdict. "The thing which matters is the system [and] people come and go, which is a routine matter and we should all be united to protect our institutions," he added. The prime minister, he said, should have resigned much earlier but it was his fault which forced the court to take such a decision. He expressed optimism that the government would not repeat its past mistakes regarding implementation of the court verdicts.
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