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Contempt notice to Minister

Photo: AP

SAVOURING VICTORY: Supporters of Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz sharif celebrate the Supreme Court's decision in his favour, in Multan, on Friday

ISLAMABAD: A day after the Supreme Court thumbed its nose again at President Pervez Musharraf by directing the Government to ensure the unhindered return of the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, one of its Ministers is in trouble with the judiciary for saying the verdict was “partial”.

A six-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary on Friday handed a contempt notice to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Niazi for saying on at least two private television channels that the verdict was biased and given under political influence.

The Minister’s position, expressed in strong language against the court, surprised many especially as an unnamed government spokesman had already declared through the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan that the verdict would be taken in its “true spirit” and Gen. Musharraf said on television that “political reconciliation” was the need of the hour.

On the other hand, Mr. Niazi, a veteran politician who is regarded as well-versed in constitutional procedures, was extraordinarily harsh in his condemnation of the verdict.

He told Geo and Dawn TV that he would not accept the verdict, as it had been decided on the streets a week ago.

“The people were dancing in the streets and making V points [with their fingers], which the court endorsed by writing a four-line judgment,” he said, warning that the judiciary’s “uncalled for activism” would be to blame if an emergency or martial law were declared in Pakistan.

He asked the court to function in “harmony” with the other pillars of the state, and accused it of having become “a party” in the ongoing political battle in Pakistan.

“It should launch Justice Party, start politics and contest elections,” he remarked and said if the Government felt embarrassed by his statements, he was ready to quit.

Mr. Niazi’s remarks came as Gen. Musharraf said on state-run Pakistan TV in a pre-recorded programme that “no doubt” he was having “a dialogue” — he said this word was better than “deal” — with the Pakistan People’s Party, but it should be “with everyone”.

The President said there was a desire for a democratic set-up in the country, and “notwithstanding someone’s likes or dislikes about the present leadership, it was important that all are on board to help the country face the present challenges”.

For political reconciliation, “there is a need to forgive and forget the past”, he said.

But Mr. Sharif’s comeback may not be smooth. Attorney-General Malik Qayyum reiterated on Friday what Mr. Niazi said after the verdict, that the former Prime Minister could be arrested on arrival in Pakistan to serve out sentences that had been remitted when he left Pakistan in 2000 as he would be in breach of an undertaking he had given then to stay out for 10 years.

Mr. Sharif was serving life imprisonment after his conviction in a case of terrorism and hijacking relating to the events of October 12, 1999, the day he was deposed, when he tried to prevent a plane with Gen. Pervez Musharraf on board from landing in Karachi. He was also serving a 14-year jail sentence in a corruption case relating to the purchase of a helicopter.

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