PM must quit, go to jail, if proven guilty: Imran

Calls for Nawaz’s accountability first; says Raiwind march can begin anytime; announces next rally in Faisalabad

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will not only ‘go home’ but will also have to serve a jail term if proven guilty of corruption in the Panama Papers probe.

“Mian Sahib, you said you will ‘go home’ if proven guilty by an inquiry commission. However, you will not only go home but will have to go to jail, if corruption charges are proven [after investigations into Panama Papers scandal]” Imran said while addressing a rally of his supporters outside the Punjab Assembly on Sunday.



Panama Papers, a trove of leaked documents, revealed last month that the prime ministers’ three children were among dozens of influential people from across the globe who had stashed away their money in offshore companies.

Over the past few weeks, PM Nawaz has denied any wrongdoing, while agreeing to form a judicial inquiry commission and requesting the chief justice to form a panel to probe the allegations. The PTI chief, like other opposition leaders, has rejected the commission’s terms of reference (ToRs) and threatened to stage a sit-in outside the Sharif’s family residence in Raiwind. .

For now, he has stopped short from giving a final deadline to the government over the Panama Papers commission’s ToRs but at the same time he had put his workers on notice that they should get ready to march towards Raiwind.

“We will keep come back to Lahore. You should remain prepared as I can take you to Raiwind at any time,” Imran said. “We will hold another rally in Faisalabad this coming Sunday.”

Hitting out at Prime Minister Nawaz, Imran asked the premier to respond to people’s questions about his assets. “This is all very easy. Just declare all your assets and the people will be satisfied. All it will take is a 30-minute press conference,” he said.



“In a democracy, a leader has to be accountable to people. “First of all your accountability will be done,” Imran said, addressing the prime minister. “After your accountability, anyone, including me and my party members, can be held accountable,” he said.

Imran said his party had framed its ToRs for the inquiry commission. “But we will first take the opposition onboard,” he said, adding that an independent commission should be formed under the chief justice.

Imran claimed that the Sharif family has spent Rs11 billion in taxpayers’ money on Jati Umra, the premier’s family residence in Raiwind.

“The rulers have spent Rs430 million to fix infrastructure at their family residence and 2,700 policemen guard Jati Umra to protect the family,” he said. “If an elected representative does that then he has to go to jail.”

He also said a politician could not do business when he was in power.

“But the Sharif family made their business empire while they were in government. They come to power to build businesses. In 1986, there was just one Ittefaq Foundry and in 12 years they built 30 factories. As Sharifs got richer, the people of Pakistani got poorer,” he said.



Imran said whenever people raise questions about corruption of the Sharif family, Nawaz Sharif says democracy is in danger. “Eliminating corruption strengthens democracy, not weakens it,” he said.

The PTI chief also criticised the PML-N government’s development projects and said the nation could not be built by building bridges and underpasses. For that you have to create a system of justice and equality, he said.

Responding to warning of a PML-N leader, who said the ruling party would also stage a sit-in outside his Bani Gala residence, Imran said he would not only welcome the PML-N leaders but also arrange for their food. “But the point is that what will they demand from me? I have already declared all my assets and they are on my website,” he said.

Imran also criticised the government for not giving farmers the wheat at a fixed price. Speaking in connection with the Labour Day, he said his government would not do any privatisation but improve the management of national institutions to make them efficient.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2016.