‘Dirty campaign’: Sanaullah cries foul over opposition’s politicking

Urges top court to stop rivals from talking about judge’s dissent note.

LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) must take notice of opposition parties using Justice Asif Khosa’s dissent note in the Panama Papers verdict for their political machinations, Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters, the Punjab law minister said rival political parties should not be allowed to run their ‘dirty campaign’ that was aimed at making controversial the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to investigate the Panama Papers allegations.

Sanaullah urged the apex court to take into consideration the criticism levelled against the verdict and the judges. He added the apex court should take every step possible to bring this campaign to an end.

The minister said the JIT’s investigation must be free of any controversy and every state institution should play its role for this purpose.

He noted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf planned to stage a rally in Islamabad to use the verdict to further its political goals. “Its [PTI] leaders are glorifying the dissent notes of two judges of the bench as if it’s some kind of divine abstract,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2017.