MULTAN: Veteran politician Javed Hashmi has termed the Panama Papers investigation “a ploy to oust” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rather than to hold him accountable and regretted that there is no accountability when it comes to military and judiciary.

“I believe that Mr Sharif should be held accountable. I am the first person to seek an accountability system in the country. But why just Nawaz Sharif,” he asked at a press conference here on Wednesday.

At the outset, Mr Hashmi said it could be the last press conference in his 50-year political career.

“Politicians have always sacrificed for the country but there has been no one who can try generals and judges who commit wrongdoings,” he said.

“If the accountability of politicians is compulsory, then what about a sitting judge of the apex court whose name has appeared in the Panama Papers? Can anybody have the courage to hold him accountable? Can anybody try retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for trampling the constitution?” he asked.

The senior politician said that generals had subverted the Constitution on four occasions but no one had held them accountable. On the other hand politicians have been murdered, put behind bars and forced into exile.

Says sadiq and ameen clauses were introduced in Constitution by Zia to target opponents

Mr Hashmi said some generals were living abroad and had assets there as well but nobody could seek their money trail.

Raising questions about the conduct of the Supreme Court bench and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that dealt with the Panama Papers case, he said: “When you (the judges) call someone Sicilian mafia or godfather, you have almost given the verdict. With such observations, you set a guideline for the JIT.”

He said the present bench of the apex court should not continue to hear the Panama Papers case.

“I have been through a JIT myself. When I did not even have a house, they showed on paper that I owned a Taj Mahal. Justice Azmat Sheikh and others know how these things happen,” he said.

The Supreme Court had committed many mistakes in this country’s history, he said. It did nothing when the constitution was trampled in the past.

He advised Mr Sharif to become the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and make one of the senior leaders of the party prime minister. He recommended Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan or Ahsan Iqbal for the job.

He said Articles 62 and 63, the sadiq and ameen clauses, were introduced in the constitution by former military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq to target his opponents.

“I think nobody can be sadiq and ameen other than the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)... They (Gen Zia) have included clauses like these (in the constitution) to oust those they do not like,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2017