ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders on Friday expressed reservations over the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and said the removal of the premier was not on the basis of Panama Papers.
The press conference was held by Barrister Zafarullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Zaid Hamid and other leaders of PML-N.
“Since 1947 till date, not one prime minister of Pakistan has completed the five year tenure. Call it irony of fate or mistakes on one ground or the other,” said the barrister.
Barrister Zafarullah said on the occasion that the judges of the honourable Supreme Court didn t listen to the objections raised by the Sharif family on the formation of Joint Investigation Team (JIT), reported Dunya News.
Barrister Zafarullah said that the judgment was unprecedented and he had never heard of any such precedents in the past. He said that from the formation of the JIT to the announcement of the verdict, all the objections raised by the Sharif family were rejected by the honourable court.
“The verdict of the court says that although the prime minister denied having received any salary from FZE Limited but since it was receivable, PM stood disqualified for misdeclaration of assets. However, he didn’t quote the very next line of PM’s statement that he had stated before the dissolution of the company that he didn’t intend to draw the salary. Once PM declared that he didn’t intend to draw the salary, it was unpayable and thus unreceivable”, said Zahid Hamid.
Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the disqualification hadn’t come on any charges of corruption, kickbacks or commissions. He said that PM was disqualified over a company that had been dissolved three years back, in which he held a ceremonial post and withdrew no salaries from.
Saad Rafique claimed that the party would make a much stronger comeback in the upcoming 2018 general elections.
Saad Rafique said that since PM had been removed from his post, now he’d prove more lethal for the forces working against democracy.
“We have struggled for this country and this struggle wouldn’t go in vain. Our ancestors spent their lives in colonial jails and we faced jails in dictatorial regimes”, he said.
The federal minister added that the person who had come to power on the back of 14.8 million votes, was disqualified over a technical error.
Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that there was not a single proof of corruption found on Nawaz Sharif and thus he was disqualified over a salary that he never withdrew.
