SC should take up PanamaLeaks case forthwith: Imran

Criticises Nawaz’s speech during PML-N’s intra-party elections

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday said the Supreme Court should immediately start hearing into the PanamaLeaks ‘case’.

Talking to journalists here at his Banigala residence, Imran said they had been knocking at the doors of all the justice-giving institutions for the last six months but got no response and were left with no other option but to take to roads for elimination of corruption from Pakistan.

The PTI chairman said that the masses would not forget the PanamaLeaks and that the prime minister would have to be held accountable for this theft. He asserted that there were no corruption allegations against the prime minister but proof in the Panama Papers. He slammed the prime minister for becoming the Hosni Mubarak every time after coming into power, otherwise he talked of corruption-free Pakistan.

Referring to the prime minister’s speech on the occasion of PML-N’s intra-party election, Imran said Mian Panama Sharif delivered a hard-hitting speech but did not talk about the Panama Papers and his accountability. He contended that in democracy, parliament and prime minister were answerable to the masses.

Replying to a question, Imran said whatever the government wanted to do, should do before November 2 at 2:00pm, as by then, Islamabad would be locked down. “There will be a sea of people, wanting prime minister’s accountability on that day. Those with Nawaz Sharif will mean they are opposed to accountability and are corrupt,” he remarked.

He noted that he managed to buy a flat in London after playing cricket for 13 years, whereas the prime minister’s son Hassan Nawaz bought flats at massive rates while being a student in London. “Obviously, this was the wealth owned by Nawaz Sharif, taken abroad secretly. Panama [Papers] means Nawaz Sharif’s accountability,” he alleged.

The PTI chairman said that if the prime minister had nothing to hide then why he was not offering himself for search. About the PML-N’s intra-party election, he said that it would have been far better had these not been held, as this reflected monarchy.

He paid tributes to the media for creating an awareness in the public about how important it was to eliminate corruption from Pakistan, if the poor segments were to be given relief. “Otherwise, the rulers will continue borrowing and the ultimate burden will be on the people in the shape of price spiral,” he cautioned.

Asked about this meeting with Chinese ambassador on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that he assured the diplomat that his party was fully supportive of the project.  But Imran added that apprehensions were created in the minds of people when the MoU on the CPEC was signed in July 2013, but details of projects and their location was unfolded this year.

The PTI chairman alleged that there were serious issues of non-transparency and corruption in the project on the part of the Nawaz Sharif government. He billed the PML-N’s wish to form government also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 general election as day dreaming.