Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is hit hard by the reports of Panama Papers involving Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, unleashed criticism on the independent media during a session of the lower house of the parliament on Friday.

Captain (Retd) Muhammad Safdar, Prime Minister Sharif’s son-in-law and a member of the National Assembly, was the first person to come forward to rescue the beleaguered prime minister. He attacked the media in his emotional speech against the independence of the media and called upon National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to guard the parliamentarians’ honour and dignity against the media onslaught. He said that some media outlets and anchorpersons were trying to malign parliamentarians by levelling allegations of corruption and kickbacks against them in the wake of the Panama leaks.

Safdar distanced himself from his spouse Maryam’s offshore companies and assets and said that she inherited these assets from her ancestors that had been registered with the revenue department of the provincial government since 1872.

Safdar stunned the house and galleries when he did not mention the off shore companies and property owned by his spouse in his speech.

Safdar said, “We would not make policies on the dictation of media persons.” He said that only the members of parliament were authorised to enact laws.

Defending Sharif with regard to the Panama leaks, Safdar said he would be the first person to resign from the membership of the parliament if corruption charges against the prime minister are proven. He called upon the National Assembly speaker to develop a mechanism to check the sources of income of the media outlets and their tax returns. He said that some media outlets were evading tax. He said that the media was not a sacred cow and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) should probe the corruption cases pending against the media houses. He said that media houses were earning two million rupees from advertisement in a one hour programme and this income must be investigated.

Safdar said in his speech that the government would not be deterred by the policy of blackmailing of some anchorpersons who were just matriculate and that too in third division. He asked the media outlets to refrain from dictating its terms to the government.

Safdar, who hails from a middleclass family from Mansehra district, said that he presented himself for accountability. He said that he had never been involved in corruption.

PML-N lawmaker Talal Chaudhry said the PTI must refrain from the politics of agitation because such politics would damage the development projects initiated under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

MNA Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah said that PTI Chief Imran Khan wanted anarchy in the country.

MNA Munir Azhar criticised the PTI and said that Imran Khan was launched in the Pakistani politics by the Jewish lobby working against the interest of Pakistan.