ANP chief asks Imran Khan to clarify Rs10b bribe claim

ANP chief says his party has accepted the SC verdict on Panama Papers case and will also accept the JIT's findings

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan asked Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday to clarify his claim that he was offered Rs10 billion by the government to remain silent on the Panama Papers case.

"He [Imran Khan] should share the details of that offer with the public as it will also help the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that is probing into the matter," Asfandyar told reporters after his party’s advisory committee meeting at the Bilour House.

The ANP chief said his party had accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) on the Panamagate case.

"We will also accept the findings of the JIT," he added.



Asfandyar said the ANP would never support other political parties' demand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should resign.

"It's now up to Nawaz Sharif as to whether he will choose to resign or not as the SC has not disqualified him and legally he continues to remain the prime minister."

The ANP meeting was called to discuss the situation following the SC's verdict in the Panamagate case and the lynching of a student, Mashal Khan, at the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, over blasphemy allegations.

Senior party leaders Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Bushra Gohar, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Afrasiyab Khattak attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the ANP chief thanked the SC for taking suo moto notice of Mashal Khan’ s murder.

Asfandyar reiterated his call for meting out exemplary punishment to those who were involved in the lynching.



“This trend of mob justice has to be stopped as it's extremely dangerous for our society,” he warned.

"Mobs can't be given permission to decide the fates of others on the basis of mere allegations."

Asfandyar informed the participants of the meeting that Himayatullah Mayar, the ANP district president in Mardan, had been issued a show-cause notice for the statements he had made on Mashal's lynching that were against the party's policies.