ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Friday said that if Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had used the word ‘faryadi’ (complainant) for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he should have stuck to it.
“Such words do not befit the chief justice or anyone else. To say that he [PM] came to me [CJP] also does not sit well,” Nawaz reporters inside the accountability court, while referring to the reported remarks of the chief justice during a hearing on Thursday wherein he had said his job was to listen to the pleas of every ‘faryadi’. “The prime minister came with a plea, and it is my duty to hear everyone’s requests. I didn’t go to the PM House or the Secretariat. They came to me,” the CJP was quoted as saying.
Later in the day, the apex court had clarified that the chief justice never used the word ‘faryadi’ for Prime Minister Abbasi.
Nawaz said that PM Abbasi can clarify about his meeting with the CJP if he deems it to be appropriate. He said that the PM had neither discussed anything with him before the meeting nor was he briefed about it afterwards, adding that he would soon meet with the premier.
When asked to comment on the dissolution of the bench holding former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s treason trial, Nawaz said, “These things happen in such cases. But, I know one thing that Musharraf’s trial will reach its logical conclusion [one day]. Everyone will be held accountable at all costs. Times have changed. Musharraf may well stay away from the proceedings and remain an absconder, but one day he will have to face the music.”
Talking about the corruption cases against him, Nawaz said all the allegations were ‘bogus’. “They are repeating the same mantra … if there’s a corruption allegation then they need to prove it.”
Nawaz claimed his sons Hussain and Hasan Nawaz have never held government offices. “Hassan and Hussain Nawaz have never been prime minister or ministers. Show me another reference in which there is no accusation of corruption and then look at mine. Where is the mention of corruption? The entire case revolves around our family business. National Accountability Bureaus’s star witness Wajid Zia has dismissed all the allegations himself. If convicting me of a crime is the prime motive, then nominate me in the National Logistics Cell (NLC), Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and Rental Power Projects cases so your wishes may come true,” he concluded.
Published in Daily Times, March 31st 2018.