NewsMarch 28, 2018
I should have stayed away from Memogate: Nawaz
ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday admitted that his role as a petitioner against former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Memogate scandal was a mistake. “I should have had stayed away from that,” Nawaz Sharif said during a chat with reporters inside the accountability court.Talking about Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who postponed his return after the defence ministry refused to provide security to him, Nawaz said, “He is a coward. He cannot face the courts like we are doing. I am facing the court with my daughter and son-in-law. He used to show his fists and say that neither Benazir Bhutto nor Nawaz Sharif could ever come to Pakistan. And when he was asked to appear before the court, he hid himself in a hospital without any illness.”
At this, Maryam Nawaz said for the last three dates, Nawaz was suffering from throat infection but he attended the hearings despite that. “We are facing the court and not hiding ourselves in a hospital.”
Referring to the treason case, Nawaz said Wajid Zia used to wait for hours outside Musharraf’s house but he wasn’t allowed to meet him.
Responding to a question about NAB being active against the PML-N and a recent inquiry against ambassador-designate to the US Ali Jehangir Siddiqui as well as the recommendation to place his name on the Exit Control List (ECL), Nawaz said it had to be seen who was doing all that. “A prime minister nominates an emissary and, on the other hand, NAB recommends pacing his name on the ECL. It is to be seen who is behind all that,” the PML-N supremo said.
To another question, Nawaz termed the NAB law as draconian and said, “The NAB law was made in 2000 to get desired results in the 2002 elections. In 2002 elections, the NAB law was brutally used to hound, bully and blackmail our candidates pressurising them to change their loyalties. This was the sole purpose of NAB.”
He said despite all the pressure tactics, the military dictator could only get one more vote for Zafarullah Jamali to get him elected as prime minister. “This NAB law should have been abolished but the Parliament could not work the way it should have been. Maybe we didn’t t feel the need at that particular time and now we realise this. This NAB law should have been thrown away and some better mechanism should have been adopted for accountability.” He said all the laws, including the NAB law, enforced during the martial law regimes should have had been done away with. “Everybody learns from his experiences and we also learnt.”
Nawaz said everyone knew he was not the one who actedupon the signals. “I have a commitment to democracy and rule of law and I have paid a price for it. We are not the one to see towards umpire’s finger. I have already said vote is not with the umpire’s finger but with the thumb of the public. I have a firm commitment with democracy and rule of law and whatever is happening here is against the rule of law.”
To a question whether his party workers will stand by him, Nawaz said, “People are more aware and so are our party members. Pressure tactics will not work now. People have gone more fearless. Now they feel that they have to protect their self respect and they also know that there is nothing good in changing loyalties.” About the chief justice’s interview to a journalist and whether it is violation of the judges’ code of conduct, Nawaz said many people had commented about it.
Regarding the same interview where the chief justice expressed his apprehensions that the general elections might get delayed, Nawaz said, “We don’t want any delay in general elections and he should not have talked about a delay even for a single hour. Now I am not at the decision-making level and all decisions are in their hands so they must not talk about delay in elections.”
To another question that the delay in elections is a message to him, the PML-N supremo said, “If it is a message, we are not ready to buy it. No one should put the elections at halt.”
Nawaz was once again questioned about Chaudhry Nisar but he did not reply. He said, “The reason all forces are united in attacking me is my commitment to the Constitution and the law. I am here to uphold the law and the Constitution.”
Talking about some new corruption cases, Nawaz said how much time it took to form a case against someone. He once again reiterated that the assets under question had nothing to do with public money. “Nobody could say even a single penny from public exchequer was spent on these assets. We built up these assets from our family resources since 1937,” he said and challenged the authorities to come up with a case where there may be corruption in the national exchequer.
Nawaz urged the reporters to question Wajid Zia who was sitting on the other side. “Ask him who is hiding there,” Nawaz said while pointing towards Wajid Zia. “Ask him where I committed any corruption.”
About the caretaker set-up, Nawaz said he had talked to the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi twice or thrice on the subject. “I don’t think that the 2002 election could be repeated once again. At that time, there was only one channel PTV. Now people on different television channels are talking such things that not even politician could dare say. Some people are writing with utmost bravery.” At this, Nawaz was told that those who write with bravery later receive calls from ‘No Caller ID’, to which he said it should be ignored. They could not do anything, he added.
Later in the day, Nawaz said the state institutions should operate within their limits. He was addressing a meeting at the Punjab House, during which he held consultations with the party leaders and allies, including PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai. In his remarks, Nawaz said he may not have been an ideological person before “but now he is 100 per cent ideological”.
"Had we respected the sanctity of vote for 70 years, Pakistan would have been in the top 10 countries of the world," said Nawaz.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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