Politician-cum-Lawyers have not Upheld Sanctity of Judiciary: Shujaat
'Pakistan Times' Political Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: The ruling PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that "some politician-cum-lawyers, wearing black coats, have not upheld the sanctity of judiciary and that too in the presence of constitutional experts".

Giving his views on lawyers' rally in Lahore, he said the show was wrongly projected as 'huge'.

He said there had been a political show in front of Lahore High Court premises without any regard for Constitution and ethics.

There has been no such precedent in the past, he told ARY One World Channel. Lauding restraint and patience on the part of Punjab government, he said it provided maximum facilities to lawyers' rally and no untoward incident was reported.

He said a big rally would be organised by PML on May 12 in the Fedral Capital and called for its equal media its coverage.

Info Minister Reax

And, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani Sunday said the lawyers' rally, dominated by certain anti-government elements, lacks public support and it negates basic democratic norms.

Giving due regard and respect to the Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, he said the government did not create any hurdle in his journey to Lahore. "We accept the people's right of freedom of expression, considering it an integral part of real democracy."

Talking to various TV channels, Durrani said it was just a political show. Certain anti-government political workers dominated it, while common people abstained from it, he added.

It also demonstrated that political leaders and workers have badly failed in up-holding the sanctity of the institution of judiciary, Durrani said. Although political parties are free to express their feelings, however history will decide that a purely constitutional process is being politicised, he said.

He urged the intellectuals and saner elements to raise awareness that respect and sanctity of institutions must be up-held at all costs. He said politicising the process through meaningless sloganeering and other bizzare means, infact weakens the judiciary.

Democracy can only be strengthened through the power of voteand not by organising processions, he said and added the number of votes would only determine people's support and will. He said the reference is with the Judiciary, let it decide after due process of law.

He said people would express their opinion through ballot against those elements who are politicising the process for their vested interests. To a question he denied reports that cable operators were influenced on Saturday to block the transmission of some private TV channels in Sindh.

He said such complaints were redressed immediately from various areas as government is committed to the free flow of information, which is vital to further strengthening the media."Media gave live coverage to President's Tharparkar rally and procession of CJ on Saturday.

Such coverage of events will enable people to decide in a better way," he said.Direct to Home (DTH) technology would be introduced in the country within a period of next three months aiming to ensure freeing cable operators from local influences, he said.●