Nawaz Sharif slams CJP Bandial for protecting Imran Khan

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday slammed the superior judiciary for exacting revenge against him but going out of its way to protect Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in his legal woes.

Nawaz hit out after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial asked the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Chairman Imran Khan’s Toshakhana disqualification and conviction case and also suggested that the PTI leader was wrongly convicted and not given enough time to defend himself.

Nawaz, the three-time prime minister, accused the “biased” judges and named former CJP Saqib Nisar and Justice (retd) Asif Saeed Khosa and serving apex court Justice Ijazul Ahsan and others for mistreating him and hounding him in the name of justice.

“There was a time when CJP Saqib Nisar, Asif Saeed Khosa, Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Sheikh Azmat Saeed and another judge were obsessed with putting me behind bars, disqualifying me and ending my government at any cost. They left no stone unturned against us, witnesses are coming forward to expose what they did, these voices are coming from within the institutions. Justice Shaukat Aziz Sididqui is not an outsider, he is from within the judiciary, he was a senior judge. He gave a witness statement. What bigger proofs are required?” asked Nawaz.

Nawaz Sharif said that Imran Khan has been caught in the theft of billions and he is involved in corruption cases from Toshakhana to Al Qadir Trust but the chief justice is trying to protect him.

“The then chief justice Saqib Nisar was hell-bent on pushing me against the wall but today’s CJP is determined to save Imran Khan. He (Bandial) knows Imran Khan has destroyed the country, the economy, the national culture and has destroyed traditions. He has destroyed the nation’s moral fabric, has taught a culture of gangsterism, and violated Pakistan’s constitution again and again. It’s well-known how he treated the opposition when he was in power and even when he was in opposition. He did nothing other than sit-ins and protests but despite all of that we worked and delivered.

“Even as PM, he did not leave us. He went to America and said he would get the fans and air-conditioner removed from my cell. In dharnas, he said he would tie a rope around Nawaz Sharif’s neck and drag me out of the PM house. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri and Imran Khan complemented each other. What they said and did is a part of the record,” Nawaz further said.

The PML-N supremo said CJP Bandial is putting his career on the line “for this man”.

“I am disappointed that despite what is known about Khan’s destruction of Pakistan, he is doing this. Who doesn’t know that it was General Bajwa who brought Imran Khan to power. It was General Faiz who brought him in. They supported him,” said Nawaz.

The former prime minister said that it former CJP Nisar had said on record that Nawaz and Maryam have to be jailed at any cost in order to steal 2018 elections.

“Saqib Nisar said on the record that we (the judiciary) have to bring Imran Khan to power because it was the decision of General Bajwa and General Faiz,” said the PML-N supremo.

Nawaz launched a broadside at the judiciary after CJP Bandial observed that the trial court judge announced the verdict against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case in haste.

The remarks from the top judge came during the Supreme Court (SC) hearing on a petition filed by the PTI chairman, challenging the IHC's verdict on the transfer of the Toshakhana case to another court.

On August 4, the IHC annulled the sessions court's verdict on the maintainability of the case of corrupt practices related to the state gift repository against the PTI chief as a temporary relief to him, but rejected his request to transfer the matter to another court.

Later on August 5, Khan's lawyer Khawaja Haris filed an application in the SC against the IHC's decision, with a diary number attached to the petition.

The former premier was found guilty of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case and was sentenced to three years in prison.

The PTI chief's plea was heard by a three-member apex court bench headed by CJP Bandial, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel.

Nawaz praises army for Battagram rescue

Nawaz also praised the Pakistan Army and the local administration in Battagram for a “tremendous rescue effort in Battagram that the whole world was watching”.

He said: “Well done to the local administration. The whole world was focused on Pakistan and was showing what was happening in Battagram. A great service has been done by our armed forces and my full appreciation for them.”