Present Pak govt and dictatorship same: Nawaz

Islamabad, Jan 17, 2009: Pakistan's Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has criticised the present government, saying that it was not different from the dictatorship under Pervez Musharraf, media reports said. "If the current government is not supportive of a dictatorial regime, than why it did not eradicate the repressive measures introduced by former President Pervez Musharraf,"

Nawaz, who is also the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party (PML-N), said here at a press conference.

“Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has assured us to abolish the controversial 17th Amendment (related to the President's power),” Sharif said, adding that nothing has been done so far, Geo TV said.

He added that the people who have violated Pakistan's Constitution cannot take decisions about his eligibility. He said that his party would participate in a lawyers' rally to demand the annulment of the 17th Amendment that was also one of the objectives of its charter of democracy (CoD).

The former Prime Minister hoped that the government would avoid making unilateral appointments in the superior judiciary. The judiciary has been deprived of peoples' support, he lamented.

IANS