Pakistan police block Sharif supporters at assembly

by Sanjay Jha | February 25, 2009 at 10:24 pm

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After the Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld bans on former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, from elected office, Sharif supporters rallying the Pakistan government.

Pakistani police surrounded the provincial assembly in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday to stop supporters of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif meeting a day after a court ruling against him and his brother.

Nawaz Sharif has said that Supreme Court verdict against them came after he had rejected “business-like deal” offered by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Nawaz said Zardari had asked them to eschew support for the lawyers and instead support the government for the extension of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar’s tenure and in return, he would facilitate in withdrawing cases against their eligibility. His party had given a call to observe a protest day on Thursday.

Nawaz Sharif claimed during a press conference that the chief justice and the president had approached him and offered relief if he changed his stance on the restoration of judiciary.

‘Had we placed our personal interest above the national one, we could have struck a deal, but it has not been the case,’ he said.

An independent judiciary is and would remain supreme to the PML-N, Mr Sharif added.

He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had invited Shahbaz Sharif to a lunch at the presidency a month ago and ‘offered what he himself called a business deal. The judges would provide relief provided the PML-N helps the government in granting extension to the chief justice, who is due to retire in March’.

The former premier was accompanied by chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. A visibly perturbed Nawaz Sharif said: ‘I hardly care for the decision of PCO judges whom I do not consider lawful judges.’

He said the ‘spontaneous reaction’, as shown by different television channels, was a proof that the people had rejected the verdict and it would be overturned with the passage of time.

The former prime minister ruled out resignations by PML-N parliamentarians, saying they had won their seats from the party platform and resignations did not make sense.