Human rights lawyer and activist Asma Jahangir on Thursday denied reports that she will be joining the PML-N's legal team which will represent the Sharif family before the Supreme Court as hearing of the Panama Papers case resumes on Monday.

"Neither has the Prime Minister's House contacted me to take their case nor is it my field of law to accept such a case," Jehangir wrote on Twitter, dismissing media reports of her involvement in the case as "false" that had begun circulating on Wednesday evening.

An apex bench is scheduled to resume hearing the case on Monday ─ a week after the Supreme Court-mandated joint investigation team (JIT) which had been probing allegations of money laundering against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family submitted an explosive report before the apex court.

In the damning report, the JIT stated that the prime minister and his children had accumulated wealth beyond their known sources of income.

It also declared that PM Sharif's sons Hussain and Hassan Nawaz were used as proxies to build family assets.

Further, the report highlighted "irregular" movements of large sums of money from companies owned by the Sharif family in the UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia to their companies in Pakistan.

In a section titled "Ownership of Avenfield Apartments", the report stated that the prime minister's sons, his daughter, Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law, Capt Muhammad Safdar tried to mislead and manipulate the SC through a series of fake documents submitted or signed by the defendants.

Sources quoted by Dawn have said that the prime minister has already nominated Khawaja Harris to represent his family before the SC and directed him to prepare a point-wise response to the JIT report.

Opinion

The Dar story continues

The Dar story continues

One wonders what the rationale was for the foreign minister — a highly demanding, full-time job — being assigned various other political responsibilities.

Editorial

Wheat protests
Updated 01 May, 2024

Wheat protests

The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.
Polio drive
01 May, 2024

Polio drive

THE year’s fourth polio drive has kicked off across Pakistan, with the aim to immunise more than 24m children ...
Workers’ struggle
Updated 01 May, 2024

Workers’ struggle

Yet the struggle to secure a living wage — and decent working conditions — for the toiling masses must continue.
All this talk
Updated 30 Apr, 2024

All this talk

The other parties are equally legitimate stakeholders in the country’s political future, and it must give them due consideration.
Monetary policy
30 Apr, 2024

Monetary policy

ALIGNING its decision with the trend in developed economies, the State Bank has acted wisely by holding its key...
Meaningless appointment
30 Apr, 2024

Meaningless appointment

THE PML-N’s policy of ‘family first’ has once again triggered criticism. The party’s latest move in this...