Nawaz Sharif’s return plan not affected by Supreme Court’s decision: Atta Tarar

• Tarar says Nawaz's homecoming date remains same.
• Cases of Shehbaz cannot be reopened: PML-N leader.
• Says CJP Bandial tried to hide behind the robes of law.

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar has said that the party supremo Nawaz Sharif’s planned return to Pakistan on October 21 will not be affected by the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws amendments.

A three-member bench of the apex court in a majority 2-1 verdict approved Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's petition challenging amendments made to the country's accountability laws during the tenure of the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government.

After holding a meeting with Nawaz and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif in London, Tarar said that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial had displayed his pro-PTI and pro-Imran Khan bias once again by trying to favour the PTI chief but the verdict will not have much consequences as far the PML-N leadership is concerned.

Tarar said there was overwhelming evidence that Nawaz was an innocent man and “no case is a hindrance in his way of return to Pakistan. 

"Nawaz's return date remains the same. The date has been announced. He is coming back on the same date.”

He said that Nawaz had not violated any rules when it comes to Toshakhana gifts as he didn’t sell anything and made no profit like Khan did by selling all state gifts and hugely benefiting from it financially.

Tarar said that Bandial’s decision was definitely “short and sweet” as the CJP had promised, but for his mother-in-law, in reference to the leaked audio of the top judge's relative expressing support for Khan and telling another female colleague she would take up the matter with him to help the deposed PM.

The SC restored graft cases against public officeholders that were closed down following the amendments.

“This is a welcome decision because all cases related to our leadership have been decided on merit and the judges have clearly said the cases against PML-N leaders had no merit and were made for politically motivated reasons.

"A wrong impression has been created as if a lot of cases of alleged corruption have been either shut down or disposed of through these amendments. This is not true. Shehbaz Sharif is cleared on merit in Ashiana and assets cases. The only thing Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan have done is to favour Imran Khan through optics and grandstanding but this is of not much significance.”

The question is why the Bandial-led bench, minus Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, struck down these amendments, Tarar added. 

He said that Bandial had not touched or struck down those clauses which would negatively affect Khan’s cases. 

“He has given NRO to Khan. All cases of Shehbaz are already closed on merit and cannot be reopened. There is only one case of Ramzan Sugar Mills case and there is clear evidence that Sharif did nothing wrong.”

Tarar said that everyone should celebrate September 16 as the “Day of Good Riddance” as this is the day Bandial retires after bringing disgrace and bias to his office. 

He said that the judges were responsible for the current mess in Pakistan. 

“A commission of sitting judges was made on the audio commission involving Bandial’s mother-in-law. Bandial didn’t let the commission work and then became a judge and jury to get himself and his mother-in-law," Tarar said.

He said if "Project Imran Khan had not been launched and if Nawaz had not been disqualified then Pakistan would be in a much better situation today but the judiciary played its role in bringing Pakistan to where it is today.”

He said those who launched “project Imran Khan” had done injustice to Pakistan.

Tarar said Justice Shah had written an excellent dissenting note and asserted the supreme role of the parliament over the judiciary. 

“The honourable judge has said that it was unfortunate the SC has assumed the role of parliament.”

The politician said that former CJP Saqib Nisar was not a hypocrite as he openly supported PTI and didn’t hide his bias while acting as a worker of PTI but Bandial tried to hide behind the robes of law.