Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday directed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family to respond by September 6 to the allegations made by members of the opposition in disqualification references filed against the premier and his family.

The Pakistan People’s Part (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Awami League (PAL) have filed disqualification references against Nawaz Sharif, while Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party (ANP) filed a reference against the PTI’s Senator Liaqat Tarakai.

The ECP conducted the hearing of these references and issued notices to Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Member of the National Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar and Senator Liaqat Tarakai for not providing details of their offshore assets.

During the hearing, counsel for the PPP Sardar Latif Khosa and counsels for the PTI and the PAT in their detailed arguments told the court that the premier, Punjab CM and other members of his family had provided wrong statements while submitting the details of their foreign assets.

The counsels added that when the case of Panama leaks was highlighted, the Form-D, which possesses the details of assets of the PM, was removed from the nomination papers of the premier. They said that the family members of the PM owned at least nine offshore companies and had purchased property through these firms, but did not mention the details of those foreign assets in the nomination papers submitted in the ECP while contesting the elections.

They alleged that the prime minister had submitted wrong statements many times while mentioning his assets, and had been involve in tax theft. They said that a person is not eligible for the membership of parliament if he/she does not follow the criteria mentioned in articles 62 and 63 of the constitution.

The counsels further said that two offshore companies owned by Maryam Nawaz had been revealed in Panama leaks, but the same were not mentioned in the nomination papers submitted by Nawaz Sharif and his son-in-law Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar.