(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The petitioners maintained that the military spokesman refuted the prime ministers statement and insisted that he had asked the army chief to play the role of facilitator.
Islamabad: The Supreme Court dismissed on Tuesday all four petitions seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for making a false statement in the National Assembly denying reports that he had asked the army chief to intervene and help resolve the prevailing political crisis.
Three of these petitions were filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).
A seven-judge larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk heard four different pleas filed by PTI leader Ishaq Khan Khakwani PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Insaaf Lawyers Wing Advocate Gohar Nawaz Sindhu and Mohammed Azhar Siddiqui. The bench however was not satisfied with the petitioners’ claim that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had lied on the floor of the National Assembly.
The bench questioned what the “so-called lie” was as it maintained that there was no proof or basis for their claims.
According to the petitioners the prime minister had asked army chief General Raheel Sharif to act as a ‘mediator’ between the government and protesting parties — the PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) — and act as a ‘guarantor’ to any agreement with the parties.
They alleged that the premier had later lied in front of Parliament and denied making any such request and should therefore be disqualified in view of Article 63 of the constitution.
The petitioners maintained that the military spokesman refuted the prime minister’s statement and insisted that he had asked the army chief to play the role of facilitator.
Sharif had told the parliament that it was Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan who had requested a meeting with army chief General Raheel Sharif in order to broker a settlement with the government over the political crisis in the country.
The bench observed that the premier had not made a direct reference to the army and had only endorsed the opinion of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
The bench noted that Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major Asim Bajwa had not explicitly mentioned the premier’s name in his tweet and had referred to the government asking the army to play a facilitative role for resolution of the political crisis in the country.
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