Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah has rejected the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), saying that if the team had to be constituted then it should consist of three judges of the Supreme Court (SC).

“The NAB, FIA and other institutions have been annihilated. We don’t accept this JIT… What inquiry will an officer of grade 19 or grade 20 or governor of the State Bank [of Pakistan] hold? Heads of the NAB and state bank have family relation with him (Nawaz),” he said, while talking to the media outside the National Assembly on Friday.

He went on to say that if an officer was asked to hold an inquiry against the person “from whom you receive salary, will he conduct it?”

“He will never do so. If the JIT has to be constituted then it should be framed consisting of three senior judges of the SC or four judges of the high court.” He urged the prime minister to step down and offer himself for transparent investigation. “Earlier, we have never asked for resignation of the PM, but now the investigation cannot be conducted without the resignation of PM Nawaz Sharif.”

Khurshid Shah said that it did not matter if the opposition was not united, as “our objective is one”.

“We have always been taunted for being a friendly opposition, but we had done everything for the sake of strengthening state institutions and parliament… we had always supported democracy,” the opposition leader said.