ISLAMABAD: Ruling party leader Pervaiz Rashid, who was recently removed from the office of information minister, on Friday made a surprise return to the media limelight.

He defended Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panamagate case and claimed that Mr Sharif’s speech in parliament was not contrary to his statement submitted to the Supreme Court.

Mr Rashid, who appeared in the media after an interval of 39 days, refused to answer a question regarding an inquiry being conducted against him in the news leaks scandal.

“Please restrict your questions to Panamagate only for which the press conference has been arranged,” the former minister said when asked if he had been cleared from the investigation being carried out against him.

Mr Rashid was accompanied by Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rahman and Prime Minister’s Adviser Barrister Zafarullah Khan.

He said the prime minister had presented himself for accountability before parliament and gave his statement to prove his innocence. However, he said, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan had never stuck to one stance and always took U-turns.

Mr Rashid accused the PTI chief of threatening the Supreme Court by asking it that he would never accept the option of a commission on the Panamagate case. “Today Imran Khan tried to threaten the judiciary by saying that he would boycott any decision regarding formation of a commission on Panama Papers leaks despite the fact that PTI in its petition had already sought a commission for the probe,” he added.

The Supreme Court, while hearing the Panamagate case on Wednesday, had sought opinion of both the government and the PTI whether the apex court should itself decide the case or a commission be formed for the purpose.

While the PTI opted for the decision by the Supreme Court and not by a commission, the government told the court that it would accept any option to be adopted by the court.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders said that the prime minister had on May 16 delivered a ‘non technical’ speech but the opposition considered it contrary to his later statements.

“In fact the prime minister delivered a simple speech on the floor of the house so that everyone could understand. It was not the language used in the trial court,” Ms Rahman said.

The minister claimed that the prime minister’s statement before the National Assembly was not contrary to his other speeches and his statement submitted to the Supreme Court during Panama Papers case proceedings. “It is a misconception that the prime minister has made any deviation from his earlier stance,” she added.

She criticised Mr Khan for calling a political speech a ‘pack of lies’ and said: “Imran Khan thinks whatever is said in politics is a lie, but the PML-N believes that politics is a service, respect and a pledge made for the betterment of the people,” she said.

Ms Rahman said the prime minister’s lawyers had already satisfied the apex court regarding dependency of Mr Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz. “We have proved that Maryam Nawaz is not a dependant of the prime minister,” she said.

However, she agreed that the prime minister had made one transaction in the name of Maryam Nawaz. “But it does not mean that Maryam is a dependant of the prime minister. She herself earns 40 to 50 million rupees yearly,” she said.

Regarding property of the prime minister’s family in London, Ms Rahman said Mr Sharif’s sons became owner of their flats in London in 2006 and not in 1992.

Barrister Zafarullah said the PTI chief had wrongly estimated the value of flats of the prime minister’s family as they run in millions, and not billions. “Total cost of four flats in 2006 was equivalent to 90 million Pakistani rupees,” he claimed.

He said that earlier Mr Khan himself had demanded formation of a commission on the Panama Papers leaks, but now he had taken another U-turn by rejecting the option of the commission.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2016