Nawaz says avoiding clash among institutions not his responsibility alone
Nawaz says avoiding clash among institutions not his responsibility alone
Haseeb Baloch
Lead

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he was not in favour of a clash among state institutions but avoiding such confrontation was not his responsibility alone.

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he was not in favour of a clash among state institutions but avoiding such confrontation was not his responsibility alone.

“This not my sole responsibility, it is of all of us,” he told BBC Urduin an interview broadcast on Thursday, reiterating his resolve of not letting the sanctity of the people’s vote be disrespected.

On July 28, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz from the PM’s office for failing to declare a salary, which he had not withdrawn as an executive of Dubai-based company, as an asset when filing his nomination papers in 2013.

Nawaz, who was removed from power in 1999 as well by the Pakistan Army, refuted claims that he could not get along with any army chief. “There are certainly some [generals] with whom I had good relations,” he said. “I never violated the Constitution, have followed the law and do not agree with anyone who does not believe in the supremacy of law and the Constitution.”

Nawaz said only former president Pervaiz Musharraf and not the entire army was against him. “We need to decide the direction of the country and this would only be possible when we respect the sanctity of the vote,” he added.

About his ongoing campaign against the Supreme Court verdict in Panama Papers case, Nawaz said he was not doing so to become a PM again. “The seat of the PM is not a bed of roses; it is a crown of thorns…becoming a PM itself is a sacrifice.”

While he refrained from answering any question about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, about Pakistan Peoples Party’s Asif Zardari, Nawaz said: “I have neither asked him of anything nor do I intend to”.

He claimed that his party did not violate the Charter of Democracy (CoD) even once. “There has been one violation and that is NRO, which was  between Musharraf and others. That should not have happened.”

The PPP and PML-N had signed the CoD on May 14, 2006 in London, United Kingdom, binding the two parties to struggle against dictatorship, disband the National Security Council and refrain from approaching the military in coming to power.