ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has urged the Supreme Court to direct Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down prior to his appearance before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Thursday.
“The PM should resign before Thursday as he is facing a criminal investigation on the charges of money laundering and tax evasion,” Kaptaan said while addressing a news conference.
The JIT has summoned Nawaz on June 15. According to an official letter dated June 8, he was asked to appear before the investigation panel at 11am on Thursday with all documents relevant to the case.
His sons Hassan and Hussain have already been summoned and questioned by the JIT in recent days.
“What will be our global standing if our premier is facing such an investigation while taking trips to different parts of the world,” the skipper said.
The PTI chairman highlighted that the team probing the case had pointed at tampering of Panama Papers-related records by some government departments to assist the Sharifs.
“The report of the team should be made public so that people know about the tactics the rulers are applying against it,” Imran said and reiterated that the PML-N first discredited the team and then boycotted it. “To impede the course of the team’s probe is also a crime.”
“The rulers are a mafia based on buying people’s loyalties and threatening them in order to serve their interests,” he added.
According to him, the investigation would only take two to three weeks. “No matter how many foreign trips the premier makes, the probe is only a matter of two to three weeks.”
To a question, he said his supporters will remain orderly, but if the PML-N takes to streets during the PM’s appearance before the JIT, then his party will follow the suit.
Imran went on to add that the refusal of the Qatari prince to record his statement in Pakistan was a signal that the case had ended for the Sharifs.
The premier, he added, is doing no favour appearing before the JIT as he is facing a serious offence of money laundering. “This money laundering has put the country in debt and deprived the health and education sectors of funding,” he said.
