Former Pakistan PM barred from meeting deposed top judge

Pakistani police barred former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from meeting deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry at his official residence in the capital city on Thursday.

“To prolong his rule, General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has ruined all the state institutions,” Sharif said while addressing workers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) outside Balochistan House near Judges Colony after police stopped him from going ahead to meet the deposed top judge of the country.

“Whenever a dictator usurps power, the country faces instability,” he said. Referring to late General Ziaul Haq without naming him, he said: “Earlier a dictator usurped power and handed an elected prime minister while General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf exiled an elected prime minister and took over as chief executive of the country.”

Sharif, who returned from Saudi Arabia in the last week of November after seven years of exile, said it does not happen anywhere in the world that a chief justice is detained at his residence. He said that if people tolerated this “illegal” act of General (Retd) Musharraf, he would take more such steps and the country would face chaos.

Paying tributes to the judges who refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, Sharif lauded the role of lawyers for restoration of the constitution and reinstatement of judges. He said his party would fully support the movement of lawyers.

When Sharif reached near Balochistan House to proceed to the Judges Colony, PML-N workers accorded him a warm welcome but the police blocked the roads leading to the Judges Colony by placed barbed wire. On the occasion, the PML-N workers chanted slogans against President Musharraf.

Earlier, Sharif met ambassadors of more than 20 countries including Saudi Arabia at a local hotel. He told the lawyers that he feared the elections would not be fair and free. He urged the ambassadors to use their influence so that transparent elections are held in Pakistan to put the country on path to democracy.

About rejection of his nomination papers, the former prime minister said that his nomination papers were accepted in 2002 despite the fact that he was not present in the country. He said that either the returning officer had wrongly accepted his papers or he has been target this time.

Sharif said he would not file an appeal against rejection of his nomination papers because the judges of superior courts have taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order and he does not expect justice from them. Later talking to reporters, Sharif said that a joint charter of demands is likely to be finalized today and all political parties may agree on it.