Mohammad Jamil
While commenting on the verdict given by five-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Panama Papers, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan rejected the formation of Joint Investigation Team to investigate the money trail issued by the Prime Minister. Two senior judges in the five-member bench had decided in favour of disqualifying the Prime Minister, whereas three judges did not disagree with them but wanted to further investigate the matter to give the final verdict. Though the prime minister’s name was not directly mentioned in the Panama documents, his twice addressing the nation explaining his own position followed by PML-N top leaders’ outpourings complicated the situation. While talking to reporters, Aitzaz Ahsan he recounted the verdicts given by the apex court in past and said that were light-handed for Sharif family, and heavy-handed for the PPP leaders.
He went on to say that Maryam Nawaz was the key character of Panama Case, but she had been given a clean chit by the bench. Instead of confining his comments to the verdict, he alleged that Sharif brothers had family relations with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Naveed Mukhtar. In reaction to the statement of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor Bajwa said: “Comments by few regarding head of premier intelligence agency are baseless, misleading and unwarranted. Integrity of armed forces is beyond reproach.” It has to be mentioned that Lt. General Naveed Akhtar is thoroughly professional and represents a prestigious institution; and he would give overriding consideration to the institution and national interest, and not to persons or personalities.
Since he had nothing to do with the SC verdict, Aitzaz Ahsan’s remarks were uncalled for. Lt. General Naveed Mukhtar was appointed chief of the ISI as part of the first major reshuffle in the military’s top brass after new Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa took over the reins. The army issued a statement in which it said that Bajwa, who took over from General Raheel Sharif appointed Mukhtar as Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) replacing Lt General Rizwan Akhtar. By turn, the head of the covert arm of the Pakistani military, the ISI occupies one of the most important posts in Pakistan. Local English daily had then stated: “Lt. General Naveed Mukhtar is an intelligence veteran – a graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, National Defence University, Islamabad, and War Course USA, he has also commanded a Mechanised Division.
Coming back to the 540-page verdict, the five-member bench divided 3-2 over the decision, said: “The NAB Chairman has failed to cooperate with the investigation, and the FIA has failed to curb white collar crimes, necessitating the formulation of the JIT.” However, Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ruled there is insufficient evidence of corruption to remove Nawaz Sharif from the office of prime minister. It instead ordered a further investigation into money transfers. Questions arose over the business dealings of Mr Sharif’s family when three of his children were linked to offshore accounts in the Panama Papers leaks in 2015. However, the verdict by the five-member bench of the Supreme Court is not final, and perhaps a new bench is likely to be formed to oversee the investigations by the JIT to give final verdict.
