ISLAMABAD: Former PM Nawaz Sharif said that while it was commendable thatjudges are visiting hospitals, they should also look into the numerouscases pending at their courts.

He was addressing on Tuesday a meeting with a group of lawyers led byNaseer Bhutta in the presence of Maryam Nawaz, Punjab Governor RafiqueRajwana and PML-N Chairperson Raja Zafarul Haq.

We need to start a movement of restoration for justice to make Pakistan atruly democratic state, he urged upon the lawyers. “It’s good that you’revisiting hospitals but you should also see what’s happening in yourcourts,” he said. “Numerous cases are pending and people are dying waitingfor delayed justice.”

It was perhaps my face that the judges did not like after which they gave averdict against him with no proof of any corruption against me, he said.According to him, corruption of even a single penny could not be provenagainst him.

He said that while he was held accountable for a period panning over sincehe began his class seven while Imran Khan, who has been declared Sadiq andAmeen, was held accountable for only five years. He added that Imranadmitted to owning an offshore company. “And when they could find nothingagainst me, they made Iqama [foreign work permit] the reason ofdisqualification instead of Panama,” said Nawaz.

The former premier said he respects the courts and asks that they respectother institutions in return. “I am not against the judiciary,” he said. “Ijust have reservations with those judges who didn’t rule on merit.”

According to Nawaz, some judges welcomed every martial law. “We have to seewhat happened to people in 1971, when the country was broken up into two,”he said. “They were the same people who worked day and night withQuaid-e-Azam to create Pakistan. Even today such games are being played.”

He said that politics of revenge were being employed against him. But heremains undeterred, he added. “I’m not afraid of anything as I have seen alot,” he said. “I was there when in a Karachi court, I was awarded 27 yearsof imprisonment. And we all saw how Musharraf tried his best to convert myimprisonment into a death sentence.”

He added that when he faced those times coupled with the exile, what ishappening today is nothing for him.

“Firstly, the decision was unfair,” he said. “Then, there were the“Godfather” and “Sicilian Mafia” remarks.”