ISLAMABAD: With the daily hearing of the Panama Papers leaks case by the Supreme Court under way, a war of words between the government and opposition continued on Wednesday.

Earlier, a series of allegations were exchanged by the leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), but now the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has also jumped into the verbal fight outside the apex court to criticise Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Former governor of Punjab Latif Khosa of the PPP said the prime minister and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would face lifetime disqualification for forgery and submission of false statements before the Supreme Court. “Both of them were holders of Aqama (work visa) of the United Arab Emirates while holding public office in the country. This offence is adequate enough to disqualify them for the whole life,” he said.

PPP says PM and Dar will face lifetime disqualification for forgery

Mr Khosa, who is also a senior lawyer, said under Articles 218 and 220 of the Constitution, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to ensure that a person who was not honest and sagacious could not contest elections of national and provincial assemblies.

He said Nawaz Sharif was telling a lie one after another to cover up his corruption, tax evasion and illegal offshore assets.

“Prime Minister Sharif, his sons and daughter have presented forged documents before the Supreme Court which has been exposed by the British Virgin Islands,” he added.

The PPP leader said the prime minister had earlier refused to recognise his own uncle Mohammad Hussain, who worked with the Dubai Steel Mills of the Sharif family. “Later, the prime minister admitted that Mohammad Hussain was his uncle.”

PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry hoped that the Supreme Court would announce the decision in the Panama Papers case by Friday. “The lawyer for Nawaz Sharif has completed his arguments and it is expected that the decision will be announced by Friday,” he said.

He said the Sharif family had failed to provide details of assets of Mian Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif, and sons of the prime minister. “Nawaz Sharif even does not know how his son Hussain Nawaz became a billionaire only at the age of 16,” he said.

One of the petitioners in the Panama Papers case, Sheikh Rashid, President of the Awami Muslim League, said those who were advising the prime minister not to resign were in fact digging his political grave.

He said Mr Sharif’s lawyer Khwaja Harris had admitted before the Supreme Court that his client was holding the UAE work visa till 2014.

Mr Rashid said the prime minister had lost the opportunity to provide his money trail before the apex court. “Now he has no option but to resign,” he added.

Emir of the Jamat-i-Islami Sirajul Haq said Mr Dar was himself a tax evader and yet he was asking the nation to pay taxes.

He said the lawyer for Mr Sharif had nothing to defend his client in the case. “Despite committing all wrongdoings, the prime minister was being presented before the court as an innocent,” he said.

Federal Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) would be thrown in the rubbish bin and another JIT would have to be formed to ascertain the allegations levelled by the JIT.

“The JIT report is based on mala fide intentions and one-sided accountability is being conducted against the prime minister,” she said.

She said not a single report of a JIT had ever been made public in the country, but not only the report of this JIT had been made public it was also available on the internet.

The minister said people would foil all attempts being made to remove Mr Sharif or launch a media trial against him. “Nawaz Sharif is a prime minister and he will be the prime minister in the next government,” she added.

Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said PTI chairman Imran Khan was not attending the apex court’s proceedings because of a fear of his arrest.

“Imran Khan has been declared a proclaimed offender by an accountability court, therefore, he thinks that when he came out of his house he will be arrested,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017