KARACHI: Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the decision of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case is not the victory of any single political party, rather it is the victory of entire Pakistan and its people.
The PPP chairman stated this on Friday while addressing a press conference here at the media cell of PPP.
The PPP chairman was flanked by party’s leaders including Yosuf Raza Gilani, Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Aitzaz Ahsan, and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
The PPP chairman said that there was no situation of judicial martial law in the country and the present assemblies should complete their term. He said that Nawaz Shaif had never given due importance to parliament and he had ignored it. “Benazir Bhutto had once said that Nawaz Sharif would cry one day as he would recall her and her father.” He said the democratic and parliamentary system should be strengthened in the country.
He said that the PPP, after consulting the rest of the opposition, would nominate its own candidate for the vacant slot of prime minister. He said that legislation had to be done for doing the process of accountability and law-making and it should be done at the earliest. “It is our demand that after the Supreme Court’s decision, accountability of everyone should be carried out and the process of accountability should be done on an indiscriminate basis. A parliamentary committee should be constituted for the purpose while legislation for the process of accountability should be done at the earliest,” he said.
The PPP chairman said that names of persons facing allegations including that of Nawaz Sharif should be placed on the Exit Control List. He hoped after the verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama case, the menace of corruption would be eliminated from the country while national institutions would be strengthened.
He said the PPP would continue with its struggle for the survival of democratic system in the country and was ready to face any sort of situation. He said that the PPP had a different strategy on the issue of Panama Papers scandal as the party didn’t move the court on the issue. “But when the issue of Panama Papers came to the fore on 03 April, we were the first to raise voice on this and we demanded that action should be taken against the people involved in the Panama Leaks,” said Bilawal Bhutto.
“We don’t believe in politics of allegation mongering and I would like to say that whichever cases are in the Supreme Court related to accountability whether against Imran Khan or anyone else should be decided at the earliest,” he said.
He said that Nawaz Sharif had been given ample time to get his name in the Panama Papers case cleared but he had failed to do so. The PPP chairman said that references sent to the apex court related to the death sentence of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Asghar Khan case, and other such pending cases should be decided at the earliest. “If there is any allegation or any case pending against me or against any other person, then the law should take its course,” he said.
To a question, he said that articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution were purely a constitutional matter as parliament could do legislation on this issue. “But I would say that these articles should be implemented on everyone,” he said.
“We faced the cases in the past as we are also doing the same at the present and we will continue to do so in future as well,” he said. He said that people would decide about the political parties, which would get the opportunity to form the government after the 2018 general elections. He said that the PPP had started its preparations for the forthcoming general elections.
He said that the decision of the Supreme Court was in accordance with the law and the Constitution. He said that cases pending against dictators of the past should be decided at the earliest. He said that his political party would not contact Nawaz Sharif and the two political parties would follow their separate course of doing politics.
Bilawal said the PPP would announce its next political strategy as the party would hold public meetings in the entire country.
He said that NAB from now onwards would do investigation in the case against the Sharif family under supervision of the Supreme Court, so it was hoped that decisions would be made in accordance with the law. To a question, the PPP chairman said that he had not eaten sweets to celebrate the apex court’s decision disqualifying the prime minister.
