'Sentence of Nawaz Sharif can't be restored'

Lahore, Aug 27: Former Pakistan President, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, has said the government cannot restore the sentences against Nawaz Sharif as he was pardoned by a legal head of the state.

"If the rulers are bent upon restoring the convictions against Sharif, they can fulfil their desires. But the judiciary is independent now, and the rulers would not be able to absorb even one stroke of the judiciary," he warned.

Tarar said that Musharraf was not a constitutional President, and therefore, he had no right to restore the sentence passed on Sharif.

'The punishment of Sharif was pardoned by a constitutional president of Pakistan and an unconstitutional President can't dismiss the orders of a legal head of the state,' he added.

To a query whether he (Tarar) was still President of Pakistan, he said that 'the Article 44 of the Constitution fixes a five-year term for a President, but he can continue even after lapse of the term until a legitimate successor replaces him.'

He refuted all government claims regarding an agreement signed by Sharif for going abroad, and said that neither any agreement was signed by Sharif, nor was any assurance given to the rulers by him.

Tarar, who pardoned the punishments of Sharif after a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, was in Multan to condole the death of Mukhtar Hashmi, the youngest brother of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz acting president Javed Hashmi, The Nation reported.

ANI
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