Expressing disbelief over the ground for his dismissal by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today asserted that he had committed no wrong and vowed to continue his struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law in the country.
According to a report in Dawn, Nawaz Sharif also wondered as to why only his family should be held accountable for probity in public life.
"Is it only my family that should be held accountable? Is everyone else in this country 'sadiq' and 'ameen'?" Nawaz Sharif asked while addressing his party's parliamentary committee meeting.
"I still do not understand the grounds for my dismissal. When I never took a salary, what would I declare?" Nawaz Sharif said while referring to the ground on which he was disqualified from the National Assembly by the country’s Supreme Court.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in its report to the Supreme Court held Nawaz Sharif guilty of not declaring on his nomination papers for the 2013 General Election an income of 10,000 dirhams drawn from a Dubai-based company between Aug 7, 2006 and April 20, 2014.
Countering this charge, Nawaz Sharif said, "I was in exile and getting a visa at that time was difficult. When I went to London for Saudi Arabia, I could not live there for over six months. I had to travel to another country and return... So I would get my visa from Dubai every six months since London was the centre of our politics."
"So to get a visa, we thought, this would be a legal method â my son opened a company... He made me the chairman. And a salary was decided since you are required to be a salaried individual,” he added.
Nawaz Sharif expressed surprise over the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify him for not receiving a salary.
"They disqualified me for not receiving a salary. Since it was not received, is it an asset that had to be declared. It is my son's company, not the government's company, and I was not making millions out of it. When you take something, there's a problem; when you don't, there's a problem," he added.
Nawaz Sharif insisted that he had not committed any wrong and added that if he had done something wrong, he would have felt the guilt himself.
He also said that he no longer desired office and had no thirst for power .
"I do not want my life's work to go to waste. I want my struggles to bear fruit for this country. The 200 million people of this country deserve it. Again, I have no thirst for power. I no longer desire office — I only desire that my country is free of its burdens,” Nawaz Sharif said.
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