ISLAMABAD: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Thursday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would respect any decision given by the Supreme Court in the Panama leaks case.
Speaking to media outside the Supreme Court (SC), he said that the court will announce the decision soon and all the parties in the case should be ready to accept it. “You may have your own reservations and feelings but you have to respect the court’s decision. We don’t know what decision the court is going to give, but we’ll respect it,” he said.
The minister said that the Panama case was political in nature and the petitioners, instead of pleading it in the court; had been fighting it in media. “I reiterate that if they were serious with the case, they would have hired the services of country’s top lawyers like us. But unfortunately they did not do that and have been trying to confuse the masses and constantly trying to pressurise the court.” he added.
Saad Rafique said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s track record showed that he was used to pressurising institutions to get decisions in his favour. “He (Imran) has been pressurising and trying to besiege National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), courts and parliament to obtain decisions in his favour,” he added.
He said that his affiliation with Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Shehbaz Sharif consisted of around three decades, but at no point during this period he saw them taking a decision against the law or merit. He said that he had been serving as Railways Minister for the last four years but the PM never intervened in his work, adding, “That is why we are delivering in an efficient way.”
He said he believed dialogue was the best way to sort out issues stating that the PTI chief introduced an abusive language in politics, which was not its culture before. “Imran’s entry in politics brought with it allegations and lies. This has put bad effects on a large segment of our youth,” he said.
He said that the masses decide about the future of political leaders. “People never leave their leaders if they (leaders) care for them and work for them.PML-N has been facing challenges in the past but people never left the party and have been electing it time and again,” he added.
The minister said that some internal and external elements did not want to see a strong and stable Pakistan that was why they were hatching conspiracies against Nawaz Sharif. “A popular leader does not suit these elements and that is why they are against the Prime Minister,” he said.
He said both Benazir Bhutto and her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were popular leaders and therefore conspiracies were made against them. Similarly; conspiracies are being hatched against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This time these (conspiracies) are being done in the form of Imran Khan.
