Parliament supreme institution of country: Jaffar

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Maritime Affairs Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal has said that parliament is the supreme institution of the country and its members can play a vital role to make it respectful.

Talking to PTV, he said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Awami Muslim League (AML) head Sheikh Rashid should be thankful to the parliament which had given respect to them but they were issuing insulting statements against it.

The minister said the PTI and Sheikh Rashid would never resign from the parliament. He said PTI members of the parliament were in difficult situation to defend their leader's insulting remarks regarding the Parliament.

Replying to a question, he said the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) was the party of those who had restored judiciary in the country and always worked for strengthening the national institutions.

He said PML-N leadership had always respected the judiciary and presented themselves before the courts but raising objections on the decisions of courts was the constitutional right of every citizen of the country.

Jafar Iqbal said former president Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf was disrespecting the judiciary by not presenting himself before courts. But nawaz Sharif despite the fact that his name was not mentioned in the Panama Papers, presented himself before the courts for accountability, he added.

The PML-N believed in accountability but it should be across the board and without any discrimination, he added.

He said the PML-N leadership was ready to appear before any national institution, if required.

He said Kasur incident was terrible and every person was sad on it, but opposition should avoid doing politics on it.

He said the PML-N and its leadership had put the country on the path of development and the Punjab government had followed the merit during recruitment in police and provided them modern facilities for controlling the crimes.

He said holding protest was the right of everyone but it should be under the constitutional parameters and not harmful to others.