ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif on Monday said the allegations levelled against ex-chief justice Saqib Nisar by ex-chief justice of Gilgit Appellate Court Rana M Shamim is a big question mark on all constitutional institutions as well as transparency of 2018 general elections.

The statement from the PML-N leader came after a story was published by a local newspaper, which stated that ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz were kept in jail till the elections on the orders of Nisar, the then chief justice of Pakistan.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, Asif said the parliament should summon all the constitutional institutions in the parliament to discuss the controversy.

He continued that all the intuitions whether it was judiciary, bureaucracy and the [military] establishment defend each other except the politicians. "We must give an end to the culture of coming into power through backdoor channel. We, the politicians must stop making political capital out of each other's weaknesses, as it's the time to be united," he maintained.

He said that courts of the country were respected and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should not make any concession on instant issues such as the one raised by the former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Appellate Court. "All this controversy raises serious questions over the transparency of the elections of 2018... Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were given punishment for crimes they did not even commit," he added.

Quoting the report, he said that orders were given via phone not to release Nawaz and Maryam before the elections, saying that his leader and his daughter were unjustly imprisoned. He questioned that if the apex court of the country was involved in such practices then where should one go to get justice.

When Murad Saeed, the federal Minister for Communications took the floor to respond to Asif's speech, PML-N's Birjees Tahir pointed out the quorum. However, Saeed took the floor again when the house resumed after a 10 minutes' break. Responding to Asif, he questioned that if Nawaz Sharif was so madly in love with the country, why did he not return.

"If Nawaz Sharif loves Pakistan so much then why he doesn't return the looted wealth to the country," he questioned, adding if the former prime minister was seeking a compromise then he was making a mistake.

Talking about the report, he said "whatever happened today was akin to attacking the judiciary," adding whenever the PML-N did not get court orders in their favour they resorted to such tactics. Saeed said Sharif was declared a liar by the court, adding the PML-N wanted a judge like Justice Qayyum and a regime-like General Zia.

"When they don't get what they want, they try to hatch conspiracies against the military, they try to malign the judges and strangle the voice of media," he claimed. In the same breath, he continued that both Nawaz Sharif and former finance minister Ishaq Dar were fugitives.

"Would they [Sharif and Dar] like to tell us when are they coming back as Covid-19 pandemic is almost over...the US has left Afghanistan. And what's their excuse of delaying their return [to the country]," he chided.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar told the opposition parties that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) would be used during the next general elections and the vote theft would be stopped.

Talking about the opposition's planned long march, he said that JUI-F Amir Maulana Fazlur Rehman had come to Islamabad before but returned empty-handed. "One of their (opposition) leaders (Nawaz Sharif) a while ago was instigating his workers to go against the army since he was residing comfortably in London," he added. He said the government did not fear the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) or the independent media and his statement was about those people belonging to the media who act as facilitators of the PDM.

"Journalists were asking questions [about the PDM], so I said that they were just 'seasonal illness'," he added. Maulana Asad Mehmood of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) said that was not the first ever revelation by the former judges, as conspiracies against democratically-elected governments behind closed door were surfacing.

He said the opposition was ready to give proposals for legislations, if the government was sincere to make legislation with an open heart by taking all stakeholders onboard. Babar Awan, the adviser to the prime minister on parliamentary affairs, said the government was going to convene a joint-sitting of the parliament on Wednesday.

He said the opposition was free to give its proposals, and the government would definitely consider them if there was any weight in them. With this, Abdul Qadir Patel of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) pointed out the quorum and the house was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday (today) at 11am.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021