Assets case against PM: Petitioner told to fine-tune arguments

Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafri declares he was harassed for filing this case.

LAHORE: A five-member larger bench of the Lahore High Court paying no attention to demands of the petitioner to summon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to court gave him one week to fine-tune his arguments in his petition against foreign assets of the PM and seeking his disqualification.

The court fixed the proceedings for next Friday at 11am.

The counsel, Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafri, said the Sharif family had left a two-room house in Amritsar but had now assets of more than 40 billion dollars. He said NS should be declared disqualified not only from contesting election but also from filing his nomination papers to participate in the elections.

He said his petition was pending since 1992. He alleged that he was harassed several times during pendency of the petition from different quarters.

He said Nawaz Sharif should be summoned before the court to justify his position.

The bench headed by Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan also included Justice Muhammad Qasim, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Faisal Zaman and Justice Mirza Waqas Raoof.

The petition was filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafri in 1991. He alleged in the petition that Nawaz Sharif was involved in money laundering out of country after plundering the national exchequer.

He requested the court to hold investigations and bring back the money plundered by Sharif. He also requested the court to declare Sharif as disqualified from contesting any election.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2015.