ALI HUSSAIN
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday re-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as its president for the next four-year term after an amendment in the law as well as the party’s constitution.
The announcement to that effect was made in a crowded Central General Council meeting by the party’s Chief Election Commissioner Chaudhary Jaffer Iqbal here at the Convention Center, saying, “Since no other candidate has filed nomination papers against Nawaz Sharif, so he is declared elected [PML-N president] unopposed.”
Sharif was disqualified from both offices – Prime Minister and the party’s president – in the wake of the Supreme Court July 28 verdict in Panama Papers case. But the latest development was made possible after the passage of the Election Bill, 2017 from both the houses of the Parliament and subsequently signed into law by the President at late Monday night as well as an amendment in the party’s constitution to remove the clause which prohibits any disqualified person from holding the party’s position.
Addressing the gathering after his election as the PML-N President, Nawaz Sharif thanked the parliamentarians for the passage of law and the party’s Central Working Committee for making amendment in the party’s constitution.
“I do think as what kind of a man I am…They made repeated attempts to remove me but you will always keep giving me an entry again and again,” Sharif told his workers who in response chanted slogans “Wazir-e-Azam [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif.”
He said that the then President, Pervez Musharraf, reinstated the law while another military dictator had first introduced it to disqualify the politicians. “I would like to thank the people for throwing this law back at their faces,” he added.
Referring to the 35-year term of various military rulers in the country’s past 70-year history, he regretted that it is needed to take lesson from the past mistakes and the reasons that led to disintegration of the country and creation of Bangladesh. “Self-accountability is what is called ‘putting our own house in order’…this is what happens in civilized nations,” he said, adding that the civilized nations put their houses in order and change their policies accordingly.
“Those who repeat the past policies and do not draw lessons from their past mistakes remain behind and the time passes without waiting for them,” he said, adding “In the country’s history there came opportunities where we could rectify our mistakes but sadly we failed to do so.”
“The incidents like the Dhaka Fall are enough for the nations to put their directions on the right path. But unfortunately we learnt nothing from this big disaster,” he further regretted.
Nawaz mentioned that his 12 questions, which he earlier put forward, have received no answers so far. “From the Maulvi Tamizuddin case to the Benazir Bhutto’s murder case and take my own case, we saw such decisions [of the judiciary]. I was disqualified for not taking salary from my son’s company, so I am not Sadiq (truthful) and Ameen (trustworthy). And another popular Prime Minister [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto] was hanged through such decisions…But those who abrogated the Constitution turned out to be Sadiq and Ameen,” he added.
He maintained that in the entire 35-year rule of military dictators, they gave nothing to the country “but we also saw invention of doctrine of necessity.”
“When no justification was found for their unconstitutional steps, the doctrine of necessity was invented,” he said, adding that he wishes a doctrine of necessity was also created for respect of people’s mandate and democracy.
Sharif warned, “Pakistan will not forgive us if we do not try to change our situation,” adding he had proposed a ‘grand national dialogue’ to focus on restoring the people’s mandate, as “only those should govern whom the people vote for.”
Under the same principles, he said, his party supported the PPP’s previous government to complete its term and also allowed the PTI to make its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after general election 2013 despite having “the required numbers in hand.”
He also maintained that after the 2018 general election, the people will decide through their vote as to “who is qualified and who is unqualified.”
Sharif also asked his party members to know the reasons behind his disqualification, saying he was not removed from the office on any corruption charge but for holding Iqama. “If they [judges] were not able to find anything in the Panama [Papers], they should have told the nation the truth that we have found nothing in Panama and, thus, we are going to take him out on the basis of holding an Iqama,” he added.
Sharif also maintained that the PML-N is still the largest and the most popular party in the country, adding that his party wants to take the country forward by empowering the youth.
Referring to the achievements in his past four-year term as the prime minister, he said that Pakistan of today is much better than what it was in 2013.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi felicitated Nawaz Sharif for his re-election as the party’s president, terming the occasion a “historic day.”
He said, “We implemented the July 28 decision in Panama Papers case but it has not been accepted by the people. The popularity of the leaders does not come to an end through the court decisions but by the decisions of people.”
The Prime Minister said the next general election will be held after June next year and expressed the confidence that the people will again give mandate to the PML-N.
He said that the projects initiated by the former prime minister will be completed in the next eight months, adding that Sharif completed unprecedented number of development projects in the last four years.
He challenged “all the dictators and the PPP” to compare the development work carried out by them with that of the PML-N alone. “If our development [work] does not stand 100 fold higher than what they have done in their terms, we will give our government up,” the Prime Minister claimed.
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, in his address, advised the newly elected PML-N President Nawaz Sharif to avoid consulting ‘the advisers of yesterday’, saying “they were only with the party for enjoying luxuries, cars and positions.”
“With due respect I would urge [Nawaz Sharif] to take decision in consultation with the PML-N family and not with those ‘advisers of the yesterday’ who were only with the party for enjoying cars and positions,” he told his elder brother.
He claimed that Nawaz Sharif had kept his promise to the nation and brought electricity to the country. He said the decision to produce 3600MW of electricity was taken in 2015 and the first phase has been completed and cheap electricity is being provided to people.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the National Assembly on Monday last abolished the “black law” introduced by former dictator, adding before the clause was made part of the law in 2002, no law had anything to do with posts of a political party.
Without mentioning anybody, the interior minister said, “Those who want us to ‘do more’…I would like to give them a message from this General Council meeting, now there is ‘no more’, enough is enough.”
There was also an exchange of poetry, firstly by Shahbaz Sharif, which was followed by Nawaz Sharif and Khawaja Saad Rafique.
Almost all the senior leadership of the party was present on the occasion. Former Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan was also present but he refused to address the gathering when he was asked by Saad Rafique to do so.
