20000410

PML, allied parties

criticise govt for

convicting Nawaz

NISAR AHMAD SHEIKH

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (N) has expressed its profound shock and dismay at the award of life imprisonment to Nawaz Sharif.

This has been stated in a resolution adopted at the joint meeting of the PML(N) central working committee and the parliamentary party of the PML and its allied parties. The meeting was held here on Sunday with Begum Kulsum Nawaz being present.

At the meeting the general consensus was that the party should remain intact and Nawaz Sharif should continue to be the party chief. It was also felt that there was no need to have an acting president in view of the fact that a co-ordinating committee is in place and is discharging its responsibilities adequately.

It was felt that the presence of Kulsum Nawaz has helped in maintaining the party ranks and that the party as a whole would continue its struggle for the restoration of democracy in a peaceful manner and without confrontation.

The resolution adopted by the joint meeting stated that the PML, elected only three years ago after a landslide victory, had received a total of 8.85 million votes in the 1997 elections, or 50 percent of all the votes polled for the National Assembly, which was seven million more than the highest votes ever received by any political party in past elections in the country. It also won 137 seats, or 66 percent of all seats in the National Assembly.

The meeting noted that the trial of Nawaz Sharif in the Anti-Terrorist Court was throughout dominated by the long shadows of military rule in the country. To prove this contention, the resolution cited that the FIR was filed with the police on November 10, a month after the incident, by a lieutenant colonel of 5 Corps in Karachi; that the Anti-Terrorist Act was amended after the FIR was lodged to add Section 402-B and 121 (2&3) which were then included in the FIR. The list of the accused was also extended subsequently by adding Shahbaz Sharif and Saifur Rahman, after a fortnight.

The resolution further noted that in January 2000, Justice Shabbir Ahmad, Judge, Sindh High Court, who was initially trying the case, publicly protested about the oppressive atmosphere created by the presence of a large number of under cover intelligence agents and said he could not conduct a fair trial in these circumstances. After his refusal the case was subsequently transferred to the sessions court of Rahmat Hussain Jaffary; that in February all the judges of Supreme Court were asked to take a new oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order. The Chief Justice and six other members of the Supreme Court were removed from their positions when they refused to take the new oath; that in the same month the principal defence lawyer, Ejaz Hussain Betalvi quit over the court ruling that the statements made by accused will be released to the press only after clearance by the court; that in March another defence counsel of Nawaz Sharif, Iqbal Raad, was assassinated in cold blood along with two other colleagues. Earlier, Iqbal Raad had complained about constant harassment.

The resolution further stated that another controversy arose when the black box of the plane, a critical piece of evidence from the defence point of view, disappeared without any visible justification. The prosecution had promised initially to produce the transcript of the black box as evidence but later on reported that the black box was 'lost' and also made the unbelievable statement that it had been automatically erased within 30 minutes of the landing of flight PK-805. Surprisingly, certain versions of the cockpit conversation of this flight have subsequently appeared in certain newspapers, probably after necessary editing.

Another basic flaw in the evidence, the resolution pointed out, on the basis of which the punishment has been awarded to Nawaz Sharif is the fact that all 27 prosecution witnesses were state employees who had earlier been interrogated by a board of enquiry chaired by an army officer. The prosecution could not produce a single independent witness.

"The meeting, therefore, records its disappointment over the award of such unfair and harsh punishment to an elected prime minister," the resolution noted and also expressed the hope that Nawaz Sharif will receive full justice in the higher courts.

The meeting called upon he government to release without any delay the six co-accused acquitted by the court, and not detain them further on one pretext or another. They have already suffered six months' imprisonment for an offence which, according to the court, they had never committed.

Through another resolution, the meeting condemned the continuing human rights violations by the military regime in the name of accountability.

It was stated that the PML supports the process of accountability provided it is transparent and in accordance with the norms of international law. It was pointed out that the military regime has enacted its own version by replacing the 1997 law through an ordinance and against entrusted accountability cases to lower courts, shifted the burden of proof to the accused and given the NAB the draconian power to arrest persons only on suspicion or rumours of corruption and detain them for 90 days.

It was also noted that several Muslim League (N) leaders have been sent to jail during the last six months and kept in inhuman conditions to extract confessions. The Attock Fort is being converted into a kind of 'Nazi camp'.

It was further noted that there is also a systematic campaign to damage the reputation and image of politicians as a whole to justify the military takeover. The military government cannot introduce the so-called "true democracy" through unilateral decisions. It should discontinue this malicious and unwarranted campaign forthwith because a healthy democratic system can only evolve political parties and political activity, it was demanded.

Through another resolution the joint meeting expressed its deep concern over the growing isolation of Pakistan in the world since the military takeover. The most serious setback, it was pointed out, to Pakistan's vital national interests has been missing out of the historic opportunity of President Clinton's visit to South Asia to meaningfully address the long-outstanding dispute of Kashmir as promised by him on July 4, 1999, in the joint statement after Nawaz Sharif's meeting with him in Washington.

The resolution noted that in this age of globalisation continuing diplomatic and economic isolation of Pakistan is proving detrimental to national interests.

"In view of the grave realities, the PML and its allied parties," the resolution said, "the military rulers should stop misleading the nation in the name of so-called reforms and in the expectations of an economic revival, of which there is little prospect; and announce return to democratic government without any further delay. The excuse of fresh electoral rolls is not acceptable because these can be updated by the Election Commission only in accordance with the rules. Any reform in the electoral laws is also the responsibility of the Election Commission and can be accomplished only in consultation with the main political parties."