ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has denounced the threat of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers to reject the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report if it failed to record the evidence of the Qatari prince in the Panama Leaks case.
This was stated by PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement on Sunday responding to the press talk by four federal ministers on Saturday.
He said, “From the very start the ruling family sought to run away from the JIT. The latest outbursts in unison by some federal ministers rejecting JIT even before it has finalized its report strengthens the perception the PML-N is hell bent to reject JIT report regardless of whether the Qatari prince appeared before the JIT or not”.
The PPP spokesperson said that as defence witness, it was the responsibility of the respondents, in this case the ruling family, to produce the Qatari prince before the JIT and the court.
The burden of not producing its witness before the investigation team or court will have to be borne by the ruling family and no one else, he said. The same principle was applied when the former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appeared before the Supreme Court in the case of writing letter to Swiss authorities against the president of the country.
The fuming and fulminating ministers of PML-N have made much of the JIT quizzing former president Pervez Musharraf at his residence in the treason case and that of Mark Siegel in Washington through video conferencing in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
Separately, Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah has asked the prime minister not to put democracy and other institutions at stake for his personal gains.
Talking to reporters, the opposition leader warned if the PM did not change his attitude there could be dangerous consequences. He said the letter of the Qatari prince would have no legal value if he failed to appear before the JIT.
The opposition leader said if the letter of the Qatari prince is accepted then every one involved in black money and money laundering would produce similar letters to save their skin.
He said in the wake of the statements coming out from ministers, it has become clear that those named in Panama case are vitiating the atmosphere. He said those involved in Panama case cannot hoodwink the people. He was of the view that the government wanted to repeat the past mistake by obstructing justice.
Published in Daily Times, July 10th , 2017.
