Daily Times

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Friday said the minus-one formula was not acceptable to the masses.

In a series of tweets on his official Twitter account, Rafique warned against undermining democracy, parliament and ‘court contempt’.

“People have rejected an approach of minus-one formula again and again,” he tweeted. He said that the confrontation between institutions had been weakening the state as a whole.

“Mutual confrontations [between politicians/institutions] have been inflicting damage on the state,” he said.

Referring to the disqualification of lawmakers, he alleged that all prime ministers were removed on similar allegations in an impudent way. “Political parties are to make political decisions,” he added. The minister asked why the cases were not filed against those responsible for imposing martial laws and giving verdicts under the Doctrine of Necessity. “Why did Article 6 (of constitution) not apply on individuals declared martial laws and those justified dictatorships under the law of necessity?” he asked.

“Dishonest people in the guise of virtuous are found everywhere, but only the politicians are targeted. We do not accept immoral remarks,” he said, adding, the people passing ‘fatwas’ should first prove their recognised trustworthiness and honesty.

Earlier, ex-PM Nawaz Sharif had said that judges, who allegedly pledged their allegiance to the dictators, wanted to remove him from the post of the ruling party’s president.

Talking to reporters, Sharif criticised judiciary and said the judges who took oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) were giving lessons on moralities and virtues.

“I was first disqualified to hold a public office and now they [judges] want to remove me from the party presidency,” he then asserted.

Published in Daily Times, February 17^th 2018.