Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to declare early verdict in Panama Papers case against the ruling family including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that was reserved on July 21. Addressing a press conference here, he said the judges should announce the verdict as soon as possible so that the country could move forward. Khan said Pakistan is passing through a difficult time while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is busy in foreign junkets.
"The criminal proceedings are under way against the prime minister, and we have heard that many countries have withdrawn their invitation to the prime minister as well," he said. "At a time when the country needs him (the prime minister) the most, he is on foreign trips," he said, adding that the government is using public funds to save Nawaz Sharif and his children in the Panama Papers case. About a case against him in the Supreme Court, Imran said he is sure that he would not be disqualified as he has done nothing wrong. "Even if I am disqualified, it will be a small price to pay to get rid of the mafia," he said.
He said that around 50 percent population of Pakistan is living below the poverty line, but the rulers are busy in loot and plunder of the national exchequer. He, however, said that some media houses and journalists have been trying to equate his case in the Supreme Court with the Panama Papers case against the Sharif family wherein the latter has been accused of money laundering, corruption, assets concealment and tax evasion.
The PTI chairman said that he earned money abroad, bought flat with the legal money and also brought the funds back in Pakistan through legitimate banking channels. He said that he has submitted his complete money trail in the Supreme Court, thanks to the corrupts that I could find out 40 years old record of my earnings, adding that all other players at that time have bought their flats in London to live there.
Khan said that there would be historic jubilation in Islamabad after disqualification of Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case. He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz henchmen have been trying to give an impression to the people that if they are corrupt, all others in the country are also corrupt. He also announced boycott of Jang/Geo Group for what he called its biased and partial reporting to save Sharif family that looted billions of rupees and laundered them to London to buy palatial flats.
Khan said the country is being destroyed through money laundering and corruption, but the paid media house is trying to save the criminals by comparing my case in the Supreme Court with the Panama Papers case against the Sharif family. "I broke no law," he said, "I want to ask the paid media house if I have done tax evasion, money laundering or tax concealment."
"I ask my workers and people of Pakistan to teach him a lesson by boycotting his channel and newspapers," he said, adding that there are also some good hardworking journalists in the media group as well, especially Hamid Mir, who have struggled against dictatorships in the country. "You (Mir Shakeel) have been using your media house to amass money," he said, "you aren't doing journalism."
He also questioned the financial integrity of principal secretary of the prime minister, saying that from where the bureaucrat got the money to build a billion-rupee plaza in Rawalpindi. "This is a criminal enterprise and all are looting the country," he maintained.