Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The authorities on Wednesday ensured strict security arrangements inside and outside the Supreme Court (SC) ahead of Panama leaks case verdict that is due to be announced today (Thursday) at 2pm.

More than 500 policemen will perform duties inside the court whereas additional force will also be deployed outside. Six to eight officers will accompany every political party’s leader.

Sources said that 15 special passes would be issued to each party in the case, while measures have been taken to bar political activists from entering the Red Zone. Stern action has also been directed against those raising slogans in the premises of the court.

On the occasion, unusual security will be given to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chairman Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed.

Keeping in view the whole scenario, the Islamabad police inspector general has summoned an important meeting to inspect the arrangements in the light of guidelines from the SC registrar.

A giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records has exposed a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies.

Panama Papers had published the documents belonging to Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm on April 4, 2016. The leak named more than 400 incumbent as well as former leaders of the world who owned offshore companies, which were interpreted by the commentators as “means to stash wealth abroad”.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family members – two sons and a daughter – were named in the documents that were studied by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Imran Khan used the leak to accuse the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of misleading the nation and looting hard-earned money of the taxpayers, and managed to draw a consensus of opposition parties to demand the premier to resign and offer himself for accountability.

The prime minister offered to establish a parliamentary committee to form joint terms of references (ToRs). The apex court took up the case on October 20, 2016, when Imran Khan warned the government of alleged lockdown of the federal capital.

On November 7, family of the premier filed replies in the top court, and on November 14, the PTI submitted evidence against the Sharif family.

Hearing of the case was adjourned on December 9 until first week of January 2017 over the retirement of former chief justice of Pakistan, Anwar Zaheer Jamali. A revised bench comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Sh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan resumed the hearing on January 4.

On January 10, in its remarks, the court had branded disqualification of the premier over mere assumptions “a dangerous precedent”.

Justice Ijaz had stated in another hearing on January 12 that the records which the PM had asserted to produce before the court were not filed and that the bench could not decide what was true and what was false without looking at the documents.

State institutions were remarked against by the top court on February 21 when the judges declared the authorities concerned to have failed in probing lawmakers who owned shell companies.

After a trial that ran for around four months, the Supreme Court reserved the verdict on February 23. A supplementary cause list of the top court issued on April 18 reported that the verdict would be let out on April 20.