ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Friday urged the Supreme Court to get Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to tender resignation and said his party would protect the court if the ruling party proceeded to attack it.

Speaking at a news conference at his residence in Banigala, Mr Khan said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had not faced accountability in the past because it either bribed judges or attacked them in case it failed to bribe them.

“I urge the apex court to get a resignation from the prime minister, otherwise he will become a hurdle in the process of accountability. Both Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are involved in the Hudaibya Paper Mills case. Currently all the departments are under them; how can these departments hold them [the two leaders] accountable,” said the PTI chief.

Former chief justice urges interior ministry to ensure foolproof security of court

“Even members of the Joint Investigation Team [JIT] in the Panama Papers case have informed the court that they are being pressurised by the government and the PML-N leaders. Nawaz Sharif must resign to ensure transparent investigation by JIT,” he said.

Mr Khan recalled that Mr Sharif had asked Yousuf Raza Gilani to resign from the office of prime minister when the Supreme Court was hearing a case against the PPP leader.

He alleged the prime minister was refusing to tender his resignation because the latter would not get any commission from contracts worth billions in case he quit his office.

“The Supreme Court should direct him [Mr Sharif] to step down because otherwise PML-N leaders will continue to threaten the JIT members. Moreover, the statements of Rana Sanaullah, Nehal Hashmi and other [PML-N] leaders are objectionable as the JIT is an ‘extension’ of the court,” he said.

Commenting on a statement by Mushahidullah Khan, who termed Hussain Nawaz a child, Mr Khan said the prime minister’s son “is 45 years old, has two wives and six children. How can he be declared a child”?

“Because Mr Sharif and his family have no evidence to clear them from the Panama Papers allegations, they will ultimately go for a boycott of the JIT,” Mr Khan remarked.

In response to a question, he condemned what he described as “humiliation” of Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid at the hands of a PML-N worker. He also condemned the arrest of MNA Jamshed Dasti.

Answering another question, the PTI chief said that Punjab police would be used in an attack on the Supreme Court because the PML-N workers no longer had the courage to mount an assault.

“I remember that not a single PML-N worker came out in his support when Nawaz Sharif tried to return home from exile and was deported by [president] Pervez Musharraf,” he said.

Letter to minister

Former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has, meanwhile, written a letter to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, asking the latter to ensure foolproof security of the Supreme Court, its judges and their families as well as members of the JIT and their families.

In the letter, a copy of which has been sent to registrar of the apex court, the former chief justice said: “In the Panama case, unfortunately the prime minister of Pakistan and his family are being questioned for allegations alleged against them before Supreme Court and JIT. The prime minister being the head of a political party as well as the Government of Pakistan obviously is in a position to directly or indirectly exert his influence on the JIT.”

“It is noticeable that supporters of the prime minister... have left no stone unturned to use threatening and ferocious statements to undermine the institution of judiciary in as much as one of their leaders alleged that Supreme Court has pointed guns towards Sharif family.

“Under the circumstances and looking at the previous record of the prime minister and his companions’ attitude towards the institution... they would not even avoid to attack it as had happened in 1997 when a full-fledged attack was launched on the bench of Supreme Court headed by the-then chief justice late Sajjad Ali Shah,” added the letter.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2017