Panama Leaks
Insists their hands are clean; says they faced
ruthless accountability in the past too with success and will sail through all the odds again
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has made up his mind to approach the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) for the constitution of a commission to probe the Panama Papers. He has also decided not to cave in to any pressure on account of the leaks and the ensuing malicious campaign. He made it clear that his government would continue to work for development and stability of the country and to get rid of all ills.
The prime minister was in good health and talking to members of the federal cabinet, advisers and special assistants in a consultative meeting at the PM House on Thursday. He took them into confidence on his ailment and plan of action on the investigation into the Panama Papers.
The huddle vested the final authority with the prime minister to deal with the situation. Accordingly, he opted for approaching the Supreme Court.
Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar put up a report on his contacts with various groups of the opposition and threw light on their position.
He said the PPP and Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah were pressing the government for the establishment of a parliamentary committee while the PTI was pleading for a commission under the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Nawaz didn’t discard any proposal and asked Senator Dar to conclude his contacts at the earliest. The participants of the meeting that continued more than two hours suggested different options to deal with the situation.
State Minister Aftab Ahmad Sheikh pointed out that the Panama Papers also contained the names of 255 Pakistanis and said the mechanism of investigations should also cover them. Law and Justice Minister Zahid Hamid talked about the legal impact of different proposals and demands coming from various quarters. He dropped the hint of taking the people into confidence, which was construed as asking for fresh elections, but he made it clear that he didn’t mean new polls.
The prime minister told the meeting that he had already taken the nation into confidence through his address. He said no one will be allowed to create hurdles in the way of stability and development of the country.
He reminded that the nation was focused on economic progress and prosperity, and “we will not let anyone create any obstacle in the way.”
Nawaz said the development processes launched three years ago to steer the country out of darkness, improve the economy, and remove flaws from the system will continue. Nawaz said they faced ruthless accountability in the past too successfully and will again sail through all the odds. He said those trying to hinder the country’s development and welfare of people will not succeed in their designs.
Nawaz said the PML-N always preferred values over power and took decisions on national issues in consultation with other political parties. “The political rivals of the PML-N fear that they will be left far behind in the political arena if the government completes its constitutional tenure.” He said the entire international community vouched for transparency in the measures taken for restoration of economy, ongoing development, mega power and infrastructure projects and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which guaranteed a bright future of the country.
Nawaz said when his government took over, the economy was at its lowest ebb and investors were fleeing the country. “Today we have restored the confidence of the people and the graph reflecting hopes and aspirations of the people in their future has gone up for the first time in 15 years.”
Some participants expressed the view that certain political elements were trying to create political chaos to divert the government’s attention from the economic agenda.
They reiterated the resolve that the incumbent government would implement its development agenda. They said the ongoing propaganda was not aimed at the person of the prime minister or his family but was actually targeting political stability and pace of development of the country.
Ministers belonging to the allied parties assured Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of support of their respective parties and leadership.
Earlier, the prime minister gave a detailed account of his health and told his interlocutors that he got one of his arteries ruptured due to a cardiologist’s negligence in 2009 in London as he had an irregular heartbeat.
Since then, he couldn’t go for a follow-up and official engagements came in his way for the much-needed check-up. He said recently the symptoms reoccurred and the local doctors advised him to go for the check-up by his surgeon in London.
Nawaz told the visitors that all the tests carried out in London turned up negative and doctors had changed medicines.
Senator Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani, Amir Muqam Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, General Abdul Qadir Baloch, Sikandar Bosan, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Zafarullah Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Prof. Irfan Siddiqui, Abdul Haleem Baloch, Saira Afzal Tarar, Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Senator Pervez Rashid, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Khawaja Zaheer Ahmad, Ms. Anusha Rehman Ahmad Khan, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Musaddiq Malik, Miftah Ismail, Lt General Nasir Khan Janjua, Zahid Hamid, Zubair Umar, Abid Sher Ali, Engineer Baleeghur Rehman, Pir Amin Hasnat Shah and Senator Kamran Michael attended the huddle.