ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rubbished the opposition's demand for his resignation, following an investigation report that found him at fault for concealing his family's offshore assets. During a federal cabinet meeting, Sharif said, “I have been elected by the people of Pakistan and will never resign on anyone's call conspiring against democracy. The Pakistan Muslim League-N got more votes than the combined votes of all parties demanding his resignation. I will not let the country's development become a target of conspiracies.”
A lot of pressure has been building up ever since the submission of the Joint Investigation Team's report in the Supreme Court. The report observed major discrepancies in the finances of the Sharif family and their declared sources of income. Calling the documents “speculative” and “a concoction of allegations”, Sharif said, “Despite reservations, I accepted the JIT's formation without any hesitation and presented myself and family before it. We cooperated with it to uphold law and constitution.” He claimed that the language used in the report was “biased” and based on “malafide intentions”. Sharif even challenged his opponents to prove corruption of a single penny against his family since he became Punjab's chief minister in 1985. “My family didn't earn anything from politics but did lost a lot.”
The six-member JIT, in its report to the SC, said the PM and his children's lifestyle were way beyond their known sources of income, and recommended filing of a new corruption case against them. The investigation team has asked the court to reopen 15 old cases, including five cases decided by the Lahore high court, eight investigations and two inquiries against the PM. Three of these 15 cases were filed during the 1994 and 2011 tenures of the Pakistan Peoples Party and 12 were prepared during the regime of Pervez Musharraf, who had toppled Sharif's government in 1999 in a military coup.
The JIT recommended that the NAB be directed to complete its probe into the London properties, and also recommended that the SC resume investigations against the PM for recruiting 42 employees in the FIA in the 90s, the forced acquisition of land in Raiwind, the construction of a road to Raiwind, receiving funds for the Sharif Trust, assets beyond known sources of income and illegal plot allotments. The JIT report said Sharif failed to satisfactorily answer most of the questions put to him during his appearance before investigators on June 15. “He was generally evasive and seemed preoccupied during the interview. Major part of his statement was based on hearsay,” the report said. It added that the PM remained non-committal, speculative and at times non-cooperative while recording his statement.
