Maryam is upset with CJP for making what she calls “emotional remarks.”
The leader of the PML-N claims that only elected prime ministers and never dictators disqualified by the judiciary are acceptable.
RAWALPINDI: The PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz continued her rant against the judiciary on Wednesday, accusing it of “never daring” to hold military dictators accountable and claiming that only the elected prime ministers were removed from office after the Supreme Court ordered provincial votes in a victory for PTI leader Imran Khan.
The party’s organizer, who shared the same outrage as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial should have felt upset when an elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was removed from office due to an expired Iqama.
She spoke after the CJP said at the hearing that “Now, when you go to parliament, you find persons addressing the house who were in captivity, imprisoned, and proclaimed traitors until yesterday.” As representatives of the people, they are now speaking over there and are respected.
He was alluding to the Senate-passed bill that sought to limit the CJP’s authority and grant all suo motu cases the ability to appeal with retroactive effect. The Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 intends to limit the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) ability to create benches, take suo motu notice, and assign cases on an individual basis.
The PML-N scion said that no court “dared” to stand up against dictators and that judges had their heads bowed in front of authority when speaking to a judicial convention in Rawalpindi a day after the SC verdict. “Courts keep removing politicians, but they never brought a tyrant to the trial,” she claimed.
She cited a case in which Nawaz Sharif claimed that a court messaged him when he was prime minister and threatened to take him to Adiala unless he did as he was instructed, saying that doing so would validate dictators while deposing or threatening elected prime governments.
She claimed that the judiciary has “never stopped dictators, never prevented democracy” and that it has always been those disqualified prime ministers and individuals who have forced dictatorships out of power.
When Gen. Musharraf imprisoned judges in their houses, “nobody knows better than the attorneys who were present with Nawaz and PML-N leaders that it was Nawaz who came forth to preserve the judiciary,” she added, adding that the only court that opposed Gen. Musharraf was adjudicated.
The “Emotional CJP”
The CJP “should have also been passionate when a democratically elected prime minister was ousted from office for holding one iqama,” Maryam stated in response to CJP Umar Ata Bandial’s comments that he became “emotional” during the suo motu case of the Punjab polls postponement. The PML-N leaders should “have also been emotional when they were disqualified, or tortured for their candor, and forced to join the PTI,” according to the CJP, she claimed.
“I was detained by the NAB for 57 days when I was incarcerated in Adiala, although the case for which I was detained was never mentioned in court. Why weren’t you affected at the time?” she questioned.
As she mentioned Judge Qazi Faez Isa, she questioned why the CJP “was not moved when his own brother judge’s family was tossed out on the street.” Because he stood in the way of the PTI and Imran Khan and because he upheld the law and the Constitution, the entire nation witnessed his anguish.
She argued that there was a “distinction in quality between honest judges and those who favored the PTI.”
Maryam reacted angrily to the CJP’s claimed comments about PDM lawmakers being imprisoned till last year and giving speeches in the lower house today, saying that they were there because General Faiz, the former head of the ISI, was holding the judiciary hostage.
The PML-N leader shot back, calling it “an honor” to be imprisoned for one’s beliefs. I never cried during my time in prison because I had faith in my cause, my mission, and my principle. The search for the truth is never simple, she added, adding that people without morals steer clear of the legal system.
Those “who suffered in jail, too suffered fake cases under the CJP’s nose,” according to Maryam. “The PML-N has been taken to every court there is. Because we knew we were innocent, we always showed up in court, she added.
Bushra Bibi, a former first lady, had fought against NAB call-up notices in the Toshakhana case on the grounds that she wasn’t in a position to hold public office, and Maryam countered that she wasn’t either at the time she was brought before the courts.
The PML-N leader continued to pour scorn on the courts, saying that “Imran snapped his fingers and was granted bail from many cases in one hearing, whereas the PML-N suffered from drawn-out proceedings and its members suffered in bars.”
She bemoaned the CJP’s decision to deny the incumbent government’s attorneys the chance to speak or file a complaint during the hearing. She said that only PTI leader Asad Umar, “who the PTI itself had ousted from the office of finance minister,” was consulted.
She said amid raucous laughing, “No one in even the PTI listens to Asad Umar.
Maryam claimed that the CJP failed to appoint a full bench to hear the case because he was “afraid the truth would surface,” despite the fact that a full bench would not have caused any harm.
She questioned why, in the wake of numerous judge and other politician tape leaks, there were no suo motu hearings.
Maryam argued that the CJP wouldn’t earn national or international credibility until he or she handed down “clear and fair judgements.”
Maryam opened the session by stating that her “blackcoat sisters and brothers” were her pride and guardians of the law and the Constitution.
