The petitioners seeking accountability of the Prime Minister in the Panama papers case, particularly Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf , are optimistic that 'real facts' will be brought before the nation based on new evidence to be submitted to the apex court today (Monday).
Talking to Business Recorder, PTI's vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that PTI's legal team will submit new evidence before the apex court today to prove the involvement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members in the Panama papers.
"Although, Supreme Court is an independent institution and we cannot comment on its proceedings, yet we are making every effort to further strengthen our position and new documents would be submitted to Supreme Court on Monday to substantiate our stance on the Panama papers," he added.
"The legal team of the party has worked harder and we hope that they would present their arguments with solid proof in the court. Let's see what happens next," he added.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), also a party to the case, is expecting to get 'justice'. "We have submitted the terms of references (ToRs) in the apex court and we are highly optimistic that justice would be done," said Sahibzada Tariq Ullah, JI parliamentary leader in National Assembly.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) representatives were reluctant to explain the party's position on the apex court proceedings and continue to insist that Parliament should resolve the issue of Panama leaks instead of the Supreme Court.
"We think this a matter to be resolved within the Parliament, which is the proper forum to make legislations," said Senator Farhatullah Babar, the PPP's spokesperson. He said that his party had also asked PTI chairman Imran Khan not to go to the Supreme Court but he opted to take the case to the court. "Now as the case is in the court, we cannot comment on its hearing," he added.
Referring to the bill submitted to the Senate by the joint opposition regarding the Panama papers, which was not taken up by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice on grounds that the case was already with the apex court, Babar said that the bill has nothing to do with the Supreme Court hearing of the case.