LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Hailing the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case, the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) on Saturday gave Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an ultimatum — step down within a week or face a countrywide lawyers’ agitation for resignation.

“This time, the movement will be bigger than the one launched for the restoration of the judiciary, deposed by the former military dictator retired Gen Pervez Musharraf,” bar leaders claimed at a press conference.

But the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is standing its ground, terming the demand “unconstitutional, unjustified and politically-motivated” and vowing to resist any move to put pressure on the prime minister to quit.

In the words of LHCBA president Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali: “The prime minister is left with no moral justification to remain in office after the Panamagate verdict.”

Accompanied by LHCBA Vice President Rashid Lodhi, Secretary Amir Saeed Rawn and Finance Secretary Zaheer Butt, Mr Ali maintained that the joint investigation team (JIT) ordered by the Supreme Court would consist of officers subordinate to the prime minister who would not be able to hold an impartial inquiry into the allegations of money laundering and corruption against the PM’s family.

PML-N terms demand ‘politically-motivated’, says Sharif not going anywhere

He said that while several rulers around the world had stepped down following the revelations of the Panama Papers, Mr Sharif was still clinging to his office.

In Mr Lodhi’s opinion, the questions raised by the apex court on the money trail presented by the Sharif family could not be ignored. He said the court clearly rejected the Sharif family’s point of view, leaving the PM with no moral ground to continue in office.

Mr Rawn called the April 20 verdict “a clear charge-sheet against the prime minister”, adding that two of the five judges in the bench had declared that PM Sharif was not sadiq or ameen.

He condemned the appearance of “threatening” banners in several places, sponsored by PML-N leaders, a day before the verdict.

The leaders of the legal fraternity also announced plans to convene a lawyers’ convention on the situation.

The largest bar association in Punjab province, the LHCBA has became the first lawyers’ body in the country to demand the PM’s resignation in the wake of the Panama Papers case. But the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) does not appear inclined to demand the PM’s resignation without consulting all members of its executive committee.

SCBA secretary Aftab Ahmad Bajwa told Dawn that the bar was planning to hold an executive committee meeting within a fortnight to chalk out a strategy on the Panama Papers verdict.

‘PM staying put’

Reacting to the LHCBA’s demand, PML-N information secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan told Dawn that while he was expecting such calls from opposition parties, it was surprising that this demand was coming from the legal community, since they were considered more astute in legal technicalities than laymen.

When asked about the significance of the demand, coming from the bar association in PM Sharif’s hometown, Mr Mushahidullah said there must be certain “political motives” behind the LHCBA’s announcement.

He said the PML-N would resist every move to put pressure on a democratically-elected prime minister simply on the basis of dissenting notes from two judges.

The PML-N leader said lawyers should remember that the judiciary today was independent only because of the PML-N’s part in the lawyers’ movement and recalled how the previous government was forced to restore then deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry when a Nawaz Sharif-led rally left Lahore for Islamabad.

He also rejected the notion that the JIT would not be able to conduct a fair probe into the prime minister’s affairs, contending that there were several examples in history where elected officials had been probed by government officers, such as former US president Bill Clinton.

Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb also maintained that an elected prime minister could not be removed for a third time on the whims of certain individuals.

Speaking at an event in the capital, she said the prime minister had personally offered to form a JIT to probe the allegations levelled against him and his family, claiming that Pakistan was the only country where the Panama Papers case had been heard by the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2017