PM to face probe not for the first time

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had already appeared before or sent their statements to Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) or other probe agencies two years back.  Both times the cases were of criminal nature. The appearance of the prime minister or recording of his statement to the six-member JIT that will be formed on the Supreme Court order in the Panama case will not be unusual.  In the words of a senior official, it will be an appearance before the due process and process of law and not before officials of state institutions of various grades. These officers will act as legally empowered officials to carry out an investigation. In the eye of law, it is irrelevant whether an accused is the prime minister, chief minister, a cabinet member or a government functionary as it is to be applied without discrimination and regardless of the official or social position of the person concerned.

On October 15, 2015, as prime minister Nawaz Sharif had submitted his statement to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team led by its Karachi Director Shahid Hayat and comprising its Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwar and its Islamabad Director Economic Crime Wing (ECW) Sardar Zaheer in the Asghar Khan case relating to funding of certain politicians by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the 1990 general elections.

The FIA inquiry team had been set up after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain had handed down its verdict in the case on October 19, 2012, and ruled that the 1990 polls were rigged and that action should be taken against former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg and former ISI chief Asad Durrani for violating the Constitution by manipulating the polls.

The top court had directed the federal government to take necessary action under the Constitution and the law against Beg and Durrani for their role in facilitating a group of politicians and political parties to ensure their success against their rivals in the 1990 elections.

In his statement, the premier had stated that he did not receive any money from the intelligence agency that if proved otherwise, he would return the amount with interest. He had told the investigators that during the polls, different people contributed to campaign funds and it was difficult to qualify and quantify it.

“If, however, the inquiry finds that such a transaction did take place, I won’t have a problem returning the amount with interest,” he had stated, and added that he, too, contributed to the party campaign fund that year and that he continued to do so to this day.

The FIA had also recorded the statements of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, Durrani, former chief executive of the now defunct Mehran Bank Younis Habib, former Pakistan Ambassador to Washington Syeda Abida Hussain, former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, advocate Yousuf Memon and over a dozen former government employees and officials of secret agencies.

At the time, it was reported that the inquiry team was facing difficulties in getting the statement of certain ex-military personnel. Beg had stated that unless his review petition was decided he would not give any statement to the team.

On 14 March 2015, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had appeared before a JIT and recorded his statement as a nominated suspect in the Model Town Lahore carnage. He had denied allegations of any role in the killings and said that he had rather instructed the police team to retreat.

He had said that he had also immediately transferred all police and civil officials responsible for the killings. He denied having issued any order to Punjab police for an operation in Model Town. He had said he was not even aware about the Lahore district government’s action to remove barriers outside Allama Tahirul Qadri’s residence in Model Town.