LAHORE: Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq said that Prime Minister Nawaz Shari’s counsel was pressing for the immunity of his client in the Panama leaks’ case which was tantamount to admission of guilt.
Talking to the media after the case hearing in Islamabad on Monday, he said the Prime Minister had emphatically stated in his address to the nation that he would not seek immunity but now his counsel was pressing for that only to save the Premier.
He said that the Prime Minister, in his address as also his speech in the National Assembly, had defended his entire family to show that he, his two sons and his daughter were a single unit and a single party, but different counsel were representing the Prime Minister, his sons and his daughter. This indicated that they were not a single unit or party.
The JI chief said that the Prime Minister in his oath as an MNA, had vowed to protect the county and its constitution. Besides, as Prime Minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif had pledged not to use his official position for personal ends.
However, he said that the Prime Minister’s speech in the National Assembly on the Panama leaks issue was an unlawful use of the floor of the National Assembly for the defense of his family. He said that the National Assembly agenda for that day did not include the Prime Minister’s speech. He said the Prime Minister could have offered his defense through a press conference or a public meeting.
Continuing, Sirjaul Haq said that in the Panama leaks case, allegations had been leveled against the Prime Minister in his personal capacity but his defense was being done on official level in violation of his oath.
Besides, he said, there were several contradictions in the statements about the earnings, assets and the income tax returns of Nawaz Sharif and his family members and his statement in the National Assembly. He said that under the law of the land, the burden of proof in this respect lay with the Prime Minister and his family in which they had failed.
The JI chief said that the JI was giving so much time and importance to this case because on its decision, the future of the country and the nation largely depended.
To a question regarding corruption in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Sirajul Haq said that the issue must be raised in the law court and remarked that corruption whether in the government or the opposition must be wiped out.
