Imran challenges PM to ‘open debate’ on Panamagate

Four ministers have acknowledged London flats were acquired in 1993, claims PTI chief

LAHORE: The Panamagate is a sub judice matter. But the parties involved continue to slug it out in the open. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan challenged Premier Nawaz Sharif on Sunday to an ‘open debate’ on Panama Papers in parliament.

Imran called Nawaz ‘king of corruption’ and asked his ‘courters’ to stop spreading ‘disinformation in his favour’. “Nawaz Sharif has been caught red-handed in the Panamagate scandal,” Imran told a public gathering in Khuddian Khas, Kasur.





“He [Nawaz] cannot escape punishment. He will be disqualified, if the Qatari royal’s letter turns out to be fake or Maryam Nawaz’s ownership of the London flats is established or the BBC report proves to be true.”

At the jalsa venue, it was a carnival atmosphere. All roads leading to Kasur were decorated with banners and flags in the colours of PTI’s flag. Party workers, especially women and youth, were imbued in traditional enthusiasm.

The British broadcaster has reported on the authority of ‘official documents’ that the ownership of the luxury flats in the upscale Park Lane neighbourhood of London, which belong to the Sharif family, has not changed since the early 1990s.

“Four cabinet ministers from the PML-N have already acknowledged the prime minister had acquired the London properties in 1993. And the BBC report confirms it,” Khan said. He accused Sharif of lying on the floor of parliament to save his wealth.

“In any Western democracy, a premier can never stay in power after misleading parliament. This can happen only in Pakistan where hand-picked men are heading the National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he added. “Pakistan is the only country where petty thieves are jailed, while plunderers of the national kitty are in parliament.”

Imran lamented that taxpayers’ money was being spent on the promotion of rulers, while the country borrowed expensive foreign loans. “The ruling party has spent a whopping Rs12 billion from the public exchequer on self-promotion,” he alleged. “I, on the other hand, spent Rs4 billion and set up a state-of-the-art cancer hospital in Peshawar.”



The PTI chairman also came down hard on the PML-N government in Punjab for the death of an elderly patient, Zohra Bibi, who died on the floor of Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital due to non-availability of beds. “The rulers are least concerned about the deplorable situation in state-run hospitals because they go to London even for a routine check-up,” he said. “They failed to fix the healthcare system even though they have been ruling Punjab for several years.”

Imran was upbeat the Supreme Court would rule in his favour in the Panamagate case. “We are heading towards a change. The PTI wants to introduce a transparent system of accountability in the country where NAB is free to investigate Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif or any influential of the country,” he added.



Earlier, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Pakistani nation had to change its mindset if it wanted to break status quo. “Today, everything is counterfeit in Pakistan, whether it is medicine or food. And public silence is to be blamed for it,” he told the gathering.

AML chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said Pakistan could not prosper in the presence of the Sharifs. “I’m sure the Supreme Court will dispense justice because the honourable judges have sworn on oath that they will dispense justice,” he said while addressing the gathering. He also declared 2017 as the year of elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2017.