ISLAMABAD: Following the second fortnightly Supreme Court hearing of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Panama Papers case on Wednesday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders beat their political rivals to the coveted media dais and lambasted the JIT and the justice system for being partial to Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Raising the issue of a leaked photograph showing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz at a JIT hearing, PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz termed the leak a cheap tactic by some members of the JIT looking to harass the prime minister’s family.

“A similar issue had risen after footage showing Saulat Mirza was leaked...it was criticised by all quarters back then. Now the same mistake has been repeated and those who tried to give Hussain Nawaz a bad name are disgraced,” said Mr Aziz. He added that some members of the JIT were either biased or incompetent, considering they could not ensure the security of their own documents and footage.

“The basic question is — how did Ali Zaidi of the PTI get hold of a grab of the internal video recording? Before this, a summons was leaked and then someone called an ambulance and released false information about Hussain Nawaz,” Mr Aziz added.

Two members of the JIT should not even be on the panel as they had no experience of investigating financial matters, he alleged, adding that two other members on the panel probing the prime minister’s family had dubious backgrounds.

“We believe in the supremacy of law but it was done to disgrace us,” Mr Aziz said.

He then raged at the PTI chief saying, “While the nation was sacrificing in war against terror, an absconder and a terrorist was making a mockery of the system and there was nobody to contain him.” As he ended his talk, officials of the Press Information Department (PID) quickly removed the dais and PTI workers brought in their own.

PTI’s Jehangir Tareen, Shafqat Mehmood and Fawad Chaudhary spoke to reporters and reiterated their demand for the prime minister’s resignation. “It has been registered by the JIT, that they are facing hindrances in executing their duties — we had highlighted it at the start that as long as the main accused is in a seat of power, impartial investigations could not be conducted,” Mr Tareen said.

Mr Mehmood added that the ruling political party appeared to panicking because it was the first time they had faced some sort of accountability for their wrongdoings. He said it was unfortunate that the PML-N leaders had resorted to their old tactics of threatening members of the JIT and the judiciary.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2017