Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over different petitions seeking his disqualification on account of alleged tax evasion through offshore companies, money laundering and increasing his wealth by looting public exchequer.

The top court also issued notices to premier’s daughter Maryam Safdar, his sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, his son-in-law and sitting member of the National Assembly Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The court further issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency director general, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman and law, interior and parliamentary affairs secretaries.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Thursday took up five different constitutional petitions, separately filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sheikh Rasheed, Watan Party and Advocate Muhammad Tariq Asad over Panama leaks.

Advocate Tariq Asad appeared before the bench and requested the court to restrain the PTI from staging a sit-in and shutting Islamabad down.

Watan Party’s chief Barrister Zafarullah Khan argued that the there was no need of a commission, adding the Panama matter should be probed by parliamentary committees. He also requested the bench to restrain Imran Khan from staging a sit-in.

However, the chief justice refused to entertain the request of restraining the PTI. “You people want us to do this job too. We will never enter the political arena. In case of failure of the executive to maintain and protect fundamental rights of citizens, of course we will intervene,” he observed.

The top court, while dismissing Barrister Zafarullah’s petition, observed that the court had already refused to form a commission, adding that it was premature and “does not call for exercising court’s jurisdiction under Article 184(3) at this juncture”. Manzoor Butt, counsel for the JI, informed the court that his client, in the wake of Panama leaks, filed multiple complaints before the National Accountability Bureau, but the bureau did not entertain the same. However, Sheikh Rasheed, appearing in-person, said that the entire world was looking up to the top court for justice, adding that it was time to “remove sluggish and corrupt rulers”.

Hamid Khan, head of the PTI’s legal team, argued that Panama leaks had names of different countries’ prime ministers, including Nawaz Sharif, adding that no practical steps had been taken so far.

Hamid Khan informed the bench regarding developments related to the Panama leaks since April.

An investigative journalist, Asad Kharral, informed the top court that he had produced the documented evidence of the premier’s wealth before the NAB. He pleaded the court to issue directives for probing the same.

Following the arguments, the top court issued notices to the respondents of all petitions and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.

It may be mentioned here Imran Khan, Jahangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Daniyal Aziz, Zafarullah Khan, Salman Aslam Butt were also present in the courtroom to witness the first hearing. The courtroom was also full of spectators. Interestingly, the office-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council – who had remained much active in the early days when Panama leaks surfaced – were not seen throughout the proceedings.

Meanwhile, talking to journalists outside the Supreme Court, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the government had shown tolerance, but no permission would be given to those wanting to shut down government offices, making the government hostage and hurling threats.

He said that there was no need to shut Islamabad down, as court had taken notice of the Panama case. He advised Imran Khan to respect state institutions. He stressed that the PTI chief’s every single step was dangerous for democracy, while there was no justification for Imran Khan to lock Islamabad down after initiation of the court’s proceedings into the allegations.