Terming the Supreme Court's judgment on the petitions challenging the Elections Act 2017 person-specific, deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was removed as head of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in wake of the verdict, said on Thursday that the court had released its highly anticipated decision. Talking to reporters after appearing before the Accountability Court hearing corruption references against him and his family members, Sharif said that first they (Supreme Court judges) paralyzed the executive and then they snatched away the authority of Parliament.
Sharif said that following the Panama Papers case verdict he was removed from premiership while February 21 ruling snatched away his position as party head and now he is only left with his name. "Now I'm left with my name. My name Muhammad Nawaz Sharif remains. If you want to snatch this as well then do it," he said.
He said, "Search some article in the Constitution of Pakistan and you may be able to find how you can deprive Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of his name. And if you do not find it, take help from Black's Law Dictionary." The former prime minister said that there is no law in Pakistan that gives the court the right to disqualify a prime minister for not taking salary from his son. He further said now they (SC judges) are deliberating to disqualify him from politics for life.
He claimed that the court had declared the Elections Act 2017 as person-specific, although the same law had originally been created by the then Prime Minister, the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and abrogated by a martial law administrator. Earlier, Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Muhammad Safdar (retd) appeared before the accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir amid tight security arrangements.
The court after hearing arguments of both prosecution and defence counsel reserved judgment on objections raised over two supplementary references filed by NAB regarding Flagship and Al-Azizia and Hill Metals references. Ayesha Hamid, the defence counsel, while arguing before the court said that there is no new evidence or asset shown in the supplementary references. A few new transactions were included in the Al-Aziza supplementary reference, she said, adding that NAB has filed supplementary references just to delay the trial.
The NAB prosecutor said that new evidences have been included in the supplementary references including documents related to the sources of income of the accused. He said that the apex court had ordered to file supplementary references within six weeks. The court granted Sharif and Maryam an exemption from appearing before the court for the rest of the day's proceedings on Thursday.