Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has compared his ousting from office as being almost similar to what happened to assassinated former Bangladesh President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Addressing lawyers at Punjab House in Islamabad earlier this week, Sharif claimed that he had been “persecuted” over the years and was “pushed towards revolt” and compared his situation to that of Mujibur Rahman more than four decades ago.
“Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not a rebel, but was made into one”, Sharif said.
He recalled that when the Bangladesh Awami League, led by Mujibur Rahman won all seats in then East Pakistan in the 1970 general elections, his party was not allowed to form the government by Pakistan’s then martial law administrator Yahya Khan and this led to unrest across the country.
The subsequent Indo-Pakistan war in 1971 led to the secession of East Pakistan from Pakistan to form the independent state of Bangladesh.
The former three-time Pakistan Prime Minister credited Bangladesh for the creation of Pakistan, but regretted the events that followed thereafter.
“The Bengalis had a central role in the effort to create Pakistan, but we did not treat them well and separated them from us”, the Dawn quoted Sharif, as saying.
Sharif also acknowledged the fact that the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan was not a smooth affair.
“The Justice Hamoodur Rehman Commission had published a very truthful and clear report on the creation of Bangladesh after a detailed analysis, but we did not even read it,” said Sharif.
“Had we acted on it, today’s Pakistan would have been different and the kinds of games that are being played would not have been played”, Sharif said.
“I want to forget all these wounds. I don’t want to take them to a point where my emotions get out of my control”, Sharif added.
He said: “What has been done to me and to all the elected prime ministers in this country’s history, is not correct. What kind of return for service to the nation is this?”
The former prime minister also criticised the country’s judiciary for colluding with vested interests.
“They (the dictators) were told that had you not arrived, the country would have been destroyed. They were told that ‘This is Pakistan’s Constitution, and it is your property’. They were given the authority to amend the Constitution, an authority that the judges themselves did not have,” said Sharif.
Sharif said: “No court that can try a dictator has ever come into existence in Pakistan.” (ANI)