FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that he has appeared before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing Panama Papers case as everyone is answerable to law and Constitution. However, according to him, the ongoing ‘Kathputli ka tamasha’ (puppet show) must come to an end.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) - the JIT secretariat - at 11:00am amid tight security arrangements to appear before a JIT headed by Additional Director General (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Wajid Zia in connection with his family’s offshore assets. Talking to media persons after three hours long session with JIT, he said that he has presented his stance before the JIT and all the documents related to his assets and resources, which were already presented in Supreme Court and all relevant institutions, have again been submitted to the probing team.

He said his appearance before the JIT is a milestone for rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution. He, his government and his entire family have presented themselves for accountability, he added.

The Prime Minister said when the Panama leaks surfaced some 15 months ago, he had announced the setting up a commission comprising judges of Supreme Court. “If my offer was not rejected through political dramas and conspiracies, the matter could have been resolved now,” he said.

The JIT report and Supreme Court verdict would come soon “but we need to remember that a bigger JIT and court is going to be set up next year. This will be the court and JIT of 20 million people and we all will have to appear before this JIT and court,” he said in an obvious reference to the next general elections scheduled for 2018.

Nawaz Sharif further said, “The people have elected me as prime minister for the third time and today in our own government we have presented ourselves for accountability.”

He expressed hope that he and his family will be exonerated by this JIT and the Supreme Court. He hoped that people would also stand with him in next general election with more enthusiasm than they had showed in 2013.

The Prime Minister said the accountability of his family started even before his birth in 1936 and that spanned over generations. “Is there any family in the country whose three generations have been repeatedly subjected to similar kind of accountability?” he asked.

He said his first accountability started in 1972 when he had graduated from university and at that time all of his family assets were nationalised during the rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the founder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Nawaz Sharif said if there had been any evidence of corruption against him or his family then Pervez Musharraf would not have instituted a ‘false case’ of plane hijacking against him. “Our opponents can continue to conspire and raise allegations but they will not succeed,” he said.

About the ongoing investigations, he said what is going on today has nothing to do with corruption or embezzlement of government resources. He said this is worth noting that these are purely his personal and family’s private assets and businesses.

He said if ‘special agenda factories’ trampling the mandate of the people and the democracy do not wind up their business now, not only constitution and democracy but also national security would be in danger.

Earlier, the Prime Minister reached the FJA in a three-vehicle convoy to appear before the JIT. Nawaz Sharif greeted his supporters by waving his hand.

He was accompanied by his younger brother Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, elder son Hussain Nawaz, nephew MNA Hamza Shahbaz, son-in-law MNA Capt Safdar (retd), Political Secretary Asif Kirmani and Principal Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, besides other officials.

A number of PML-N workers and lawyers including women gathered in the adjoining areas of FJA but police did not allow them to move towards the JIT secretariat. Police also barred Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Saad Rafique and State Minister for Water & Power Abid Sher Ali from moving towards the FJA.

The city police and other law enforcement agencies made comprehensive security arrangements at FJA and adjoining areas with deployment of 2,500 security personnel. All roads leading to the academy were blocked for traffic to prevent any untoward incident.

Reuters adds: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday lashed out at what he called the “slandering” of his family in connection with an investigation of their wealth, and said unidentified people with agendas against him posed a danger to the country.

Sharif was speaking after being grilled by a powerful panel investigating him and his family in an inquiry ordered by the Supreme Court that has gripped Pakistan and become increasingly politicised.

“What is happening here is not about corruption allegations against me, it is about slandering the businesses and accounts of my family,” a defiant Sharif, clad in traditional shalwar kameez tunic and trousers, said as he read from a statement.

Sharif, 67, spent about three hours at the offices of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the capital, Islamabad, becoming the first Pakistani prime minister to be questioned by an investigative agency.

“No corruption charges have been proven against me in the past and, inshallah (God willing), it will not be so once again,” he said.

The Supreme Court agreed last year to investigate the Sharif family’s offshore wealth after the opposition threatened protests after the leaking of the “Panama Papers”.

Documents leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm appeared to show that Sharif’s daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy luxury properties in London.

The Supreme Court ruled in April there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office over corruption allegations levelled by the opposition, but it ordered further investigations.

Sharif, whose father was a prominent industrialist, has said his family wealth was acquired legally.

A three-time prime minister, Sharif was ousted twice in the 1990s, including in a 1999 military coup. He later lived in exile, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

He swept back to power in an election in 2013 but rumours of tension between his government and the powerful military, which oversees the foreign relations and national security, occasionally circulate.

Sharif suggested that unidentified enemies acting behind the scenes should be stopped from trying to subvert the wishes of the electorate that handed his party victory in a 2013 general election.

“If the factories that produce agendas and silence the decisions of the people are not closed, then not only the law and constitution, but the safety of this country will also be jeopardized,” he said.

Pakistan has been plagued by pervasive corruption for decades, with politicians often accusing rivals of underhand dealings.

The Supreme Court has given the panel two months to investigate the family and then deliver its findings.

The six-man panel, made up of members of civilian investigative agencies and military intelligence officers, are examining three generations of Sharif family wealth.

The team has accused government departments of tampering with old records, but Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday rejected such allegations, adding that the team’s claims meant the process was becoming “suspicious”, media reported.

Sharif’s camp has sought to remove two members of the investigation team and his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party voiced outrage over a leaked photograph taken from security camera footage showing Sharif’s son, Hussain, appearing before the panel.

Opinion polls suggest Sharif’s party is likely to win the next election, due next year.

A senior PML-N official told Reuters the party was unlikely to call an early election if Sharif was ousted by a Supreme Court ruling, and would select a new prime minister to take over until the general election.