ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has said all institutions, including parliament, the Supreme Court and armed forces, belonged to Pakistan and the country could prosper only when all these respected each other and worked within their ambits.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted for him by the Supreme Court Bar Association here on Thursday, the prime minister said mud-slinging on institutions was tantamount to defaming the country. He said strengthening the institutions would strengthen the country.

Mr Ashraf dispelled a perception that there were differences between the government and the judiciary or any other state institution. The democratic government could not even think of disgracing the judiciary, he added.

Mr Ashraf said ridiculing any state institution meant ridiculing Pakistan and stressed that all needed to work with the objective of serving the country.

“Being the prime minister, I have to respect the courts because it is the place where all heads bow down as justice is dispensed here,” he said.

Mr Ashraf said institutions in the country were in an evolutionary stage and hopefully things would settle over a period of time.He said the country’s real enemies were extremists and terrorists who were taking away people’s lives. “We have to tackle this menace collectively and we must win.”

He said issuing edicts by terrorists, declaring people non-Muslim and casting them to heaven or hell was a mockery of Islam.

Mr Ashraf said democracy was the only system of governance that reflected aspirations of people.

He said whenever dictators took over in violation of the Constitution and against the will of masses, people suffered.

The prime minister urged lawyers to support the philosophy of democracy which was a guarantee to the country’s uplift. He also asked them to reject the false perception of differences between the government and the judiciary.

He praised the SCBA for following democratic norms, and conducting its elections and accepting the results in a democratic spirit.

He recalled that the Pakistan People’s Party strongly supported the lawyers’ struggle for the restoration of judges. He said that he himself being the coordinator of Rawalpindi division at that time galvanised the support of his party workers to the lawyers’ movement.

He announced a grant of Rs75 million for SCBA’s building and said the government would provide financial support to lawyers in other areas. He also announced approval in principle of a housing society for lawyers.

In his address of welcome, SCBA President Yaseen Azad said the Supreme Court Bar Association fully supported the sovereignty of state institutions.

He said the lawyers through their long struggle had been successful in restoration of the judiciary.—APP