Pakistan Peoples 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 Spokesperson, Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement here on Sunday responding to the press talk by four federal ministers on the subject 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 Yousuf Raza Gillani 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 military dictator General Pervez Musharaf at his residence in the treason case and that of Mark Seigal in Washington through video conferencing in the Shaheed Benazir murder case.
This comparison however misses a fundamental point; Technically Musharraf was quizzed in jail as his residence was declared sub jail. Mark Seigal, on the other hand, recorded his statement through video conferences from the Pakistan Embassy in Washington and not from his home, the Spokesperson said. If the Qatari prince wishes to record statement through video conference he has to do so from Pakistan embassy in Doha and it is the responsibility of the respondents to ensure that he does so, the spokesperson said.