LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), tasked by Supreme Court for Panama Papers probe, is a joke and comedy circus and not the accountability.
Speaking to Pakistani media here, Nawaz Sharif said that the JIT had lost track and appeared to heading towards the opposition direction as it did not know what it’s looking for and it’s clear that its objectives had nothing to do with accountability. PM spoke to media immediately after landing here from Saudi Arabia where he performed Umra.
Nawaz Sharif said that the JIT had no case against him. “They don’t have an allegation against me. Our business is spread over 80 years. What the JIT is doing is a joke, it’s not accountability, we are being distracted by this JIT and our time is being wasted.”
Nawaz Sharif criticised the JIT and suggested that it had been formed as a political project to discredit him through a legal stamp in order to engineer the political landscape in favour of his opponents. The PM said that his opponents lost to him in 2013 elections and were headed for the same fate in 2018 and attempts were afoot to help such elements who had no chance through fair elections.
The PM criticised the JIT in most belligerent tone and said that “conspiracies” would not be allowed to succeed. Nawaz Sharif revealed that he asked the JIT members some questions and they had no answers.
The PM said that the JIT’s history in front of everyone and it’s open to all to see whether it started on the basis of Whatsapp appointments or even before that. “Let’s see where the JIT goes. The kind of people who have appeared before the JIT as witnesses are our worst political enemies and this JIT is asking them for help. Now, you can understand and see through what this JIT is looking for.”
In an exclusive report, The News Investigations Editor Ansar Abbasi revealed that two members of JIT were appointed through secret Whastapp calls. The Supreme Court later accepted that these appointments were made through Whatsapp and Facetime calls.
“I asked the JIT members what they were trying to find and they couldn’t tell what it was. They don’t have anything, they are going through our personal business, they are revolving around that. Our business started in 1937. By that logic this should also ask how did we set up first factory in Lahore and where did the money come from. They (the JIT members) are starting from 1972 as to how did we go to Dubai and how did we set up factory there. I was not in politics at that time, I didn’t have anything to do with politics at that time. I didn’t hold public office. In 1972 our factory was nationalisd and was occupied by Z A Bhutto. My family lost factory in Dhaka when Bangladesh was created. It’s our question how was our money stolen, we lost and what did we get as a way of compensation? Our business was worth billions and we didn’t get a single penny in compensation.”
The PM said that during his appearance before the JIT, he asked the JIT members whether it was a corruption case and they didn’t respond to his question.
Nawaz Sharif said that the JIT was a “trial of our ancestors, myself and my kids. This is a tamasha (comedy circus). We are witnessing a tamasha. It’s not myself or my family that I am worried about. I am concerned about the economic development of Pakistan. I set the economy on right path in four years, opened energy houses, gave new life to energy sector, our stock market was booming till recently, our national progress was going up, we were focused on setting up new infrastructure in the country: roads and motorways”.
When asked if JIT was a conspiracy by the same people who sponsored the first and second dharna, the PM said that the first dharna caused Chinese president to refrain from visiting Pakistan. Those who claimed rigging in 2013 elections were proved wrong after by-elections. Those who launched dharna were proved wrong as courts told them that the 2013 elections were not rigged.
“They have failed in all their attempts, they are trying to find other ways. They don’t have support in public. We won in all by elections, nearly in 95 percent cases. The same frustrated elements think that they will lose in 2018. The real JIT will be held during 2018 elections when the people of Pakistan will go for elections to pick the next leadership,” he said.
Nawaz Sharif said that there was not a single case of corruption against his government in four years. He said that there was no allegation against him of corruption and kickbacks, when he was chief minister of the Punjab or twice prime minister. “This tamasha is against one family, our enemies know their politics has failed therefore they have weaved a new conspiracy,” said the PM, suggesting that the JIT was a plot against him.
While addressing the situation, he said the real JIT would be held by the people of Pakistan in 2018 elections. He said, “Our business is stable for the past 80 years,” while assuring that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was transparent. He raised objections to the statements from opposition about ‘raising umpire’e finger’. He said his political rivals had developed enmity over election defeat.
“Pakistan is progressing and those against it are conspiring,” he added. He vowed to eliminate power outages. PM Nawaz mentioned the matter Supreme Court Registrar WhatsApp calls and reaffirmed the doubts over Sharif family’s objections to the constitution of JIT. The premier mentioned that the stock market had suffered a great blow because of political unrest in the country.
He said, “We will fight terrorism after full cooperation with the armed forces.”
Prime Minister said that the PTI leadership must explain “who was the Umpire” Imran Khan referred to throughout 2013 dharna when he kept predicting that the umpire’s finger would rise soon. Nawaz Sharif said what was happening now was a conspiracy against him hatched by those people who hate him and to them the defeat of 2013 elections remained unbearable.
Nawaz Sharif asked his detractors to let Pakistan move forward. “Enemies of Pakistan are against its development. It’s a conspiracy. It’s the same people who are involved in dirty politics.”
Nawaz Sharif condemned the recent wave of terrorism in the country. “We launched operation against terrorists. We broke the back of the terrorists. Now our attention is on another side and we are distracted, Pakistan economy is going down, stock market is in bad shape but we will not let it crash. We will beat terrorism with help of our army. We will root out this cancer. We will not let this conspiracy succeed.”
