Siraj wants commission to fix time-frame for Panama probe

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has proposed that the judicial commission to be set up by the Supreme Court for Panama Leaks enquiry should first determine its deadline for completing the task which should not be more than twenty five days and the process should begin from the prime minister.

JI would also request the Supreme Court that the judicial commission should present its report to the apex court and not to the government, he said while addressing a press conference at Mansoora on Wednesday. He said information about the plundered wealth deposited by the rulers and others in different countries should be obtained through the agreements which Pakistan had for exchange of information with other countries of the world. NAB and all other investigating agencies should extend full cooperation to the judicial commission, he said.

He said JI decision to move the apex court proved correct because the danger of extreme situation had been averted. JI believed that issues should be decided by courts and not on roads, he said. Sirajul Haq said some political circles were ridiculing the PTI for calling off its lockdown and observing Thanksgiving. However, he said, JI welcomed this decision because bloodshed had been averted.

Sirajul Haq said JI had from the very beginning been demanding that the prime minister should step down following the example of other rulers to ensure an impartial enquiry and resume his office after being declared clean. However, he said, this demand had not been accepted. He said all those who had got huge bank loans written off and whose names had appeared in the Panama Leaks should also be brought to book.

He said he was in touch with opposition leader Khurshid Shah, PTI’s Shah Mehmud Qureshi, and PML-Q’s Ch Pervaiz Elahi and others with the aim that the Opposition should submit joint ToRs and there was no grouping among them.

He said, “If countries like Hong Kong and Singapore can be cleansed of corruption why can’t Pakistan”. Sirajul Haq said some quarters were of the view that Supreme Court did not have the authority for such investigation. However, he said NAB, FIA, MI, ISI, and other agencies could collect information from foreign countries. He said all national institutions and agencies would be under the judicial commission. He said protests, public meetings or rallies of political parties were not a violation of law or the constitution.