Opposition rejects govt’s pick to head Broadsheet probe panel

ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have rejected the government’s appointment of Sheikh Azmat Saeed, a retired Supreme Court judge, to head the committee investigating the Broadsheet revelations.

Late on Thursday, Justice Saeed was named by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to lead the probe. In a statement on Friday, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb termed the step a “murder of justice”, citing the former judge’s membership of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital’s board of governors. The ex-judge’s name is listed on the hospital’s website among the honorary board of governors.

A day earlier, PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal alleged Saeed was the deputy prosecutor general when the agreement was signed with Broadsheet. “How could an investigation conducted by a former deputy prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) be transparent and fair?” questioned the PML-N statement on Friday.

Separately, PPP’s Secretary General Nayyar Bukhari said the appointment of the former judge had “exposed the government’s dishonesty”, and the purpose of appointing Saeed was to “cast all the blame on the opposition and previous governments”.

He said the PPP was also concerned over the appointment due to the ex-judge’s past affiliation with NAB and the Shaukat Khanum hospital. Investigation of the Broadsheet case under such circumstances is tantamount to “throwing dust in the eyes of the people”, he said.

Both parties said Saeed was one of the judges who decided the Panama case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

In a later press conference, PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, along Marriyum Aurangzeb, Mohammad Zubair and Khurram Dastgir, called on the former judge to recuse himself from the position, as he has a “honourable standing” among the people.

As the criticism mounted, Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an interview, said he has nothing to do with Broadsheet and the agreement was inked by Pervez Musharraf, Geo News reported.

In a conversation with reporters in Karachi, Minister of Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed rejected the opposition’s objections. He said that if the opposition was waiting for Justice (retd) Qayyum instead of Justice Saeed, “then they are mistaken”. He also claimed that through the Broadsheet probe, “$85-100 million worth of properties” would be linked to the Pakistan PML-N.

He also repeated his “political observation” that the Broadsheet issue would be “Panama 2 or Panama plus” of Pakistan in the next two to three months. The minister said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) did not have any words to say and the real issue was Broadsheet.