LAHORE: As ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif arrived here
from London on Sunday morning, a leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) and close aide to Mr Sharif says that the party
chief’s announcement to launch a movement
for the rule of law is actually aimed at securing overwhelming majority
in the next elections to go for ‘electoral reforms’ in the Constitution
for determining the limits of other state institutions.
“Mian
sahib’s announcement of launching a movement for the rule of law and
supremacy of the Constitution in the country does not mean immediately
going for any long march, sit-in or protest rallies. It has a larger
context. The PML-N under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif will reach out
to the masses and convince them that this party is the one that is going
to ensure respect of its ballot and bring about
major
judicial changes in the Constitution required to determine the limits of
other state institutions so that in future an elected prime minister is
not sent home without completing his constitutional term,” PML-N
Senator Pervaiz Rashid told Dawn here on Sunday.
Pervaiz Rashid says ex-PM’s announcement is aimed at securing majority in polls for introducing ‘electoral reforms’
When asked if Mr Sharif’s movement was all about going for
an aggressive election campaign, the PML-N Senator said: “Some 45 days
ahead of the general election are enough for a political campaign. We
have a strong organisational structure to reach out the people to send
this message across.”
About holding public meetings in
Punjab and elsewhere, Mr Rashid said: “The pace of our public meetings
will not be that of Imran Khan. Holding public meeting is not the only
platform to reach out to the masses. Probably this week a decision on
the next public meeting is taken.”
Asked if Mr Sharif
was looking for a two-thirds majority in parliament in the 2018
elections, Senator Rashid said: “We along with the like-minded parties
will be able after next year’s elections to change the laws that are
used against an elected prime minister.”
Before leaving
London for Lahore, Mr Sharif again targeted the judiciary for what he
said “adopting double standards in handling his case and that of PTI
chief Imran Khan”.
Commenting on the apex court’s
decision to reject Hanif Abbasi’s petition seeking disqualification of
Imran Khan, Mr Sharif said: “I was disqualified in the Panama Papers
case for not receiving a salary of a few thousand dirhams from my son’s
company. But Imran Khan is acquitted despite admitting that he had made
business transactions of hundreds of thousands of pounds through his
offshore company Niazi Services Ltd. This double standard is not
acceptable and I will launch a movement across the country with full
force for supremacy of law and constitution.”
On his
arrival on Sunday morning in Lahore, Mr Sharif chose not to speak to the
media and left for his Jati Umra residence in Raiwind. His daughter
Maryam also returned along with him. On Dec 5, the father and daughter
had departed for London to see Kulsoom Nawaz who has been undergoing
treatment for lymphoma (throat cancer) there.
Since the
Supreme Court’s rejection of the National Accountability Bureau’s plea
to reopen Hudaibya Paper Mills reference, there has been a lot of talk
in the PML-N camp that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has got a
‘clean chit’ and become an automatic choice of the PML-N candidate for
prime minister after the 2018 general elections.
Senator
Pervaiz Rashid made it clear that it was premature to discuss who the
PML-N would nominate for the prime minister candidate for the 2018
elections. “Nawaz Sharif will decide on this issue when time comes after
taking party leaders on board,” he said, adding that there was nothing
in the Hudaibya Paper Mills reference that was why it had to be closed.
Earlier,
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada and
some provincial ministers and legislators of PML-N had urged Nawaz
Sharif to make Shahbaz Sharif party head for the greater interest of the
party. This move could not get momentum in the party as Mr Sharif
became eligible to head his party after the passage of controversial
Elections Act 2017.
