Pakistanis to decide about Nawaz on Panama Leaks: US

WASHINGTON: The State Department has termed the Panama Leaks allegations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family as an internal issue of Pakistan.

Addressing a media briefing on Friday, the department spokesperson, John Kirby, said that it was up to the Pakistani nation to decide over the Panama Leaks that also led to the allegations against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The prime minister and his family have been under severe criticism since the Panama Papers came out, and his resignation has been demanded as well. Answering a question about that, Kirby said, “The power of any decision whatsoever in the aftermath of the leaks revelations rests with the Pakistani nation.”

The department spokesperson also lauded Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism but asked the Pakistani government to conduct indiscriminate action against all the terrorist groups including the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Meanwhile, Pentagon has declared that al-Qaeda fighters are regrouping in two major components, and its fighters were numbered between 100 and 300 just in Afghanistan. “The most recent franchise from al-Qaeda is Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent,” said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland of the Resolute Support Mission during a conference call from Afghanistan. “They [al Qaeda franchises] are probably more of a threat to Afghanistan and certainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh,” he said. Despite the existing threat from such groups, the Pentagon lauded Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts to root out the terrorist groups.