SUKKUR – PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday accused President Asif Ali Zardari of his disqualification from contesting elections through Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.

“Although President Zardari got me disqualified through Justice Dogar (now retired), I dined with him in the best interest of the country,” he remarked. Talking to the media at the residence of District Nazim Ghotki Sardar Ali Gohar Khan Mahar at Khangarh, he maintained that the implementation of Charter of Democracy (CoD) would have saved Pakistan from the trouble it was facing at this moment, adding that his party had been waiting for the repeal of the 17th Amendment two years.

He said he did not want to take premiership from Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. He said that internal differences would result in collapse of democracy in the country. In Bhurban Declaration, he reminded that the PML-N had told the PPP that “we don’t need ministries but want restoration of judges, abolition of 17th Constitutional Amendment and implementation of CoD.” The country is facing grave problems, including unemployment, hunger, price-hike, poverty, lawlessness and rampant corruption, he said.

He further said there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor, which, he stated, was the basic cause of turmoil in the country. Answering a question, Nawaz said that had marital laws not been imposed in Pakistan, the country would have been ranked among the developed nations. He said there was a dire need to provide justice to the people of the country. The government had failed to solve the problems of the country, he added.

He said President Zardari was not sincere in repealing the 17th Amendment, adding that he (Zardari) had made promises on several occasions to repeal the black laws but the PPP government had entered its third year but neither the 17th Amendment had been abolished nor COD had been implemented.
“I love the people of Sindh and Balochistan. I have special affiliation with the people of these two provinces,” he said.

Source: Daily Express, The Nation