LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should resign from his office to ensure a free and fair probe into money laundering allegations against his family. In a protest meeting, the bar association also expressed concern over loss of innocent lives in terrorist attacks in Quetta and Parachinar and in an oil tanker accident in Ahmadpur Sharqia. It termed the three incidents examples of government’s failure to protect lives of citizens. The lawyers also held a sit-in at the protest camp and chanted slogans against the government. Presiding over the meeting, LHCBA president Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said that PM Nawaz Sharif was facing criminal investigations regarding allegations of financial irregularities and money laundering. Thus, he should step down to allow a free and fair investigation, he added. After the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s April 20 verdict in the Panama Papers case, the PM could no longer be considered righteous and honest. He urged the PM to avoid criticising the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Apex court to probe into money laundering allegations. “Quetta, Parachinar and Ahmadpur Sharqia tragedies are living examples of increased lawlessness in the country and of government’s failure to protect citizens’ lives,” he said. The PM’s children were settled abroad and he himself had businesses and properties in foreign countries. “He is here just to rule over us and not to serve the public,” he said. Speaking over unrest in restive Kashmir valley, the LHCBA president condemned the PM for ‘his silence over killing of innocent men, women and children at the hands of Hindu extremists in Occupied Kashmir’. He said Kashmiris were being forced to live in their own land as prisoners but the PM had not even uttered a single word to condemn Indian atrocities. The PM was following a policy of appeasing his Indian counterpart, he added. He said the PM had also remained silent over Indian troops’ consistent violation of the line of control where not only Pakistani soldiers but also innocent women and children were being killed in incidents involving unprovoked firing from Indian side. Speaking on the occasion, LHCBA vice president Rashid Lodhi said that it was in the national interest that the PM stepped down from his office. “If he is certain about his innocence in the matter then why is he reluctant to leave his office and face charges against him and his family,” he asked. He urged the nation to stand united against corruption, saying that nothing good could be expected from the current rulers. “They have been already been involved in attacks on the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court Bar,” he said. He said the country’s law required that an accused person should step down from his office till completion of a trial and investigation against him. He said there was no reason for the PM’s aides to take pride in his appearance before the JIT. The law required all those accused of a crime to present themselves in front of investigators, he said. He said that lawyers’ community would continue its protest till PM Sharif agreed to resign from his office. “The legal fraternity stands with the judiciary and the JIT constituted by the SC. No one will be allowed to erode or usurp the constitutional right of judiciary,” he added. Published in Daily Times, June 30th, 2017.