The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) released on Monday an audio tape containing a conversation purportedly between PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and an unidentified person making references to two senior most members of the judiciary for rejection of the nomination papers of PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.
The recording was released by PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal at a press conference at the PML-N’s Model Town secretariat. He said they had received the recording from an unidentified person, who had dropped it in the PML-N secretariat.
He said the president and his PML-Q cronies had been making efforts so that the Sharif brothers could not run in the by-elections. He said the returning officers had approved the nomination papers of Nawaz and Shahbaz, much to the consternation of the presidential camp, which was desperate in getting their papers rejected by the superior courts.
The constitutional package, unfolded by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), can’t be successfully pushed through parliament when no powerful player, in or outside parliament, is on board, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) says.
“I don’t think we are in a position to pass the package in parliament when we don’t have even a simple majority in the Senate,” PML-N central leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told The News. The PML-N leader said the constitutional package was of no consequence and was just meant to divert people’s attention from the judges issue.
“The PML-N is not on board, and so is the lawyers’ community,” he said, adding the PML-Q, which has a large number of seats in the Senate, has declared its opposition to any move to clip Pervez Musharraf’s powers.
PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif has alleged that the conversation of Ch Pervaiz Elahi has alleged that President Pervez Musharraf and a most senior member of the superior judiciary had used their influence to get their nomination papers rejected on February 18 and they were hatching a conspiracy to bar them from entering parliament.
He was addressing a press conference at his Model Town Secretariat on Monday. PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood also present on the occasion.
Nawaz slammed President Musharraf and the PCO judges. He was of the view that neither the PML-N nor the entire nation recognised the status of the PCO judges. He reiterated that Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was still recognised by the nation and lawyers as the serving chief justice of Pakistan. He said they had decided to quit ministries in the federal government just for the sake of restoration of the judges because they wanted the PPP to restore the judges in the light of the ‘Murree Declaration’. He said it was not an issue of good or bad judges, but it was related to those PCO judges who conspired against their chief justice, entered into the slavery of military dictator.
An intricate cat and mouse game was played by Mian Nawaz Sharif with pro-Musharraf elements of the intelligence agencies, working to get his nomination papers rejected before the appeal filed against him in the Lahore High Court was withdrawn on Monday.
The intriguing part of the whole game was the role of the two players, who were staunch supporters of the PML-Q, one of them the Nazim of Lahore, Mian Amir Mehmud. It was the Nazim of Lahore who helped Sharif in defeating the establishment, three intelligence agencies and the presidency by convincing Akhlaque Ahmad Guddu, opponent of Nawaz Sharif in NA-123, to withdraw not only his nomination papers but also his appeal filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the acceptance of Nawaz’s papers.
A top PML-N leader told The News that Monday’s developments had resulted in the defeat of all those who were trying to keep Nawaz out of parliament. PML-N sources told The News that Lahore Nazim Mian Amir Mehmud had approached the Sharif brothers on Feb 20, just two days after the historic victory of anti-Musharraf forces in the Feb 18 general elections. Mehmud had told the Sharifs that he was ready to resign and quit politics and wanted to continue his business activities. He did not want to have any confrontation with any political force.
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