Lahore High Court on Thursday sought comments from several politicians in a petition seeking details of politicians’ assets, held within the country as well as abroad.
Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the respondents – who include Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, (late) Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Benazir Bhutto, Moeen Qureshi – to file their replies supported by affidavits within 15 days and adjourned the hearing till January 10, 2012.
The court issued the order on a petition filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree.
The petitioner had prayed that the respondents be directed to provide verified lists of their assets. He submitted that Nawaz Sharif had transferred about $3 billion to the United Kingdom where his two sons now owned a lot of property. He also told the court that the prime minister had spent about Rs500 million from public funds on his houses in Multan and Lahore.
Jafree requested the court that the Federal Board of Revenue and anti-corruption bodies be directed to give polygraph tests to all the respondents, “since they always lie, even under oath”.
Jafree submitted that the LHC had ordered, on an earlier petition also filed by him, that the assets of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari be frozen. However, after the coup in 1999 his petition was transferred to another judge who, without disposing of the case, directed the NAB to investigate the matter, Jafree said. But the investigation was never completed, he told the court.
Barrister Jafree asked that hearings on his earlier petition be restored.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2011.
COMMENTS (4)
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Imran Khan has brought change
People keep asking, can Imran Khan change Pakistan? I tell you, Imran Khan has changed Pakistan. LHC's request is prime example.
This is the only way forward - truth & reconciliation.
Kudos to the LHC, please make this count