ISLAMABAD: Objecting to the appearance of the prime minister’s son before the joint investigation team probing the Panama Papers scam with his lawyer, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has urged the JIT to allow the party’s lawyer to participate in the proceedings.

“After giving permission to Hussain Nawaz to appear before it with his lawyer, the JIT should also allow our counsel to take part in the proceedings,” said PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry in a statement, issued hours after the prime minister’s son appeared before the JIT.

The team has been formed by the Supreme Court to hold investigations into the charges of money laundering and tax evasion against some members of the Sharif family.

The PTI spokesman said that the prime minister and the members of his family should appear before the JIT as “ordinary accused persons”, instead of doing so with “official protocol”.

He asked why members of the federal cabinet and ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N were accompanying Hussain Nawaz when he came to the Federal Judicial Academy for the JIT proceedings.

He alleged that the prime minister’s son had raised objections to two of the JIT members with “a mala fide intention”. He said that the nation was anxiously waiting for the day when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would appear before the JIT.

Wants permission for its counsel to attend the proceedings

Had the PML-N been a democratic party, it would have elected a new prime minister, the PTI leader said.

Meanwhile, parliamentary leader of the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Senate, Taj Haider, also expressed dismay over questions raised by the son of the prime minister against the JIT.

He said in a statement that the JIT had been set up under the orders of the Supreme Court to investigate charges against the prime minister and his family and report its findings to the court, which would then decide whether the accused were guilty or not.

Mr Haider said that two most senior judges of the apex court had already pronounced “guilty verdict” and the three other judges had not exonerated the prime minister either, but ordered further investigation.

The PPP leader said that the JIT must not fail in its duty to thoroughly investigate every bit of information and evidence placed before it. “More importantly it must not appear soft on the accused whether by intimidation, coercion or inducement,” he said.

“By choosing not to relinquish his office prior to the investigation in the face of such ‘damning indictment’, Nawaz Sharif has exposed the high office of prime minister and leader of parliament to public ridicule and embarrassment,” he said.

“The degradation of prime minister’s office caused by his refusal to step down to pave way for a fair investigation is a matter of deep anguish and embarrassment. The prime minister is the leader of the house and his degradation is also degradation of parliament,” he added.

Mr Haider said that making the fateful choice to be investigated while in office “and then objecting to the proceedings of the JIT is tantamount to blocking justice”.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2017