ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formed a four-member legal team on Tuesday to fight the Panamagate case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family in the Supreme Court.

The team is headed by Naeem Bokhari with Babar Awan, Sikandar Mohmand and Malaika Bokhari and as its members.

PTI chairman Imran Khan, announcing the formation of the team before media persons at his residence in Banigala, said: “I am satisfied with my legal team. I have won big matches with weak teams.”

“Initially, the case will be pursued by Naeem Bokhari who will take it forward with consultation with the other three lawyers,” he added.

Naeem Bokhari leads the team having Babar Awan as its member

He said that the PTI had collected more evidence against the prime minister but it was up to the legal team which evidence to produce before the court.

Replying to a question, Mr Khan said that he had recently visited London not to collect evidence against the Sharifs but to meet his sons.

In response to another query about the possibility of his third marriage, Imran Khan said that marriage was mandatory but “currently I am concentrating on the Panama leaks case”.

The PTI has formed the four-member team after Hamid Khan, the head of its legal team, left the case amid criticism that he had failed to provide credible evidence about Nawaz Sharif’s involvement in establishing three offshore companies exposed in the Panama Papers leaks in April.

“We really appreciate everything that Hamid Khan has done for the party and there was a lot of pressure on him,” the PTI chief said. “We have decided to form a four-member team for the legal proceedings, which would later include other experts as per need.”

He said that Hamid Khan had been associated with the PTI for 20 years and would continue to be an important part of the party.

“Now we have Naeem Bokhari, Babar Awan, Sikandar Mohmand and Malaika Bokhari who has previously worked with Hamid Khan as well. From tomorrow, we will start preparing for the coming hearing of the case,” Mr Khan said.

“Initially our petition was filed by Naeem Bokhari. Now he will lead the legal proceedings along with regular consultation with the party and strategic meetings of his team.”

Mr Khan raised questions over sudden appearance of a Qatari prince in the books of the prime minister and said. “In his three speeches on Panamagate on different occasions, Nawaz Sharif did not remember the prince. So where did this come out all of a sudden?”

“PML-N representatives tried their best to spin the case by finding — albeit unsuccessfully — loopholes for the past seven months, in an attempt to come off as clean over the corruption charges,” he said.

It was not Imran Khan’s personal case but the case of Pakistan, he said and added that as an opposition party, the PTI was raising its voice over the exposure and facilitating the courts as much as it could.

“Despite the threats posed, I am proud how valiantly the PTI has embraced the struggle against the powerful, and has vowed to shake the roots of the status quo and restore democracy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016