Zardari won’t let Nawaz plug the Leaks

• PPPP president reprimands NA Opp leader Khursheed Shah for going against Bilawal’s stance on PM’s resignation
• Directs Latif Khosa to file disqualification references against PM Sharif, CM Shehbaz, Finance Minister Dar, Maryam Nawaz’s husband and Hamza Shehbaz

Pakistan Peoples’ Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Asif Ali Zardari has admonished Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah for violating the party discipline and issuing statements contrary to the party’s policy and not asking for resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the Panama Leaks issue.

The PPPP president is also reported to have directed the party’s legal wizard Latif Khosa to file disqualification references against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PM’s son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar and Hamza Shehbaz on Tuesday.

Since the Panama Papers made headlines, Khursheed Shah has been seen as being soft and not presenting genuine opposition to the Nawaz Sharif government. While Shah has made occasional critical remarks against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, the main attack against the ruling party has been led by Aitzaz Ahsan, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo and others.

A well placed source in the PPP told Pakistan Today that Shah had been summoned by Zardari to Dubai after Bilawal had complained against Shah.

“Despite the fact that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had been issuing statements over Panama Papers against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and had also sought his resignation, Shah had contradicted his party chairman twice. Shah had no option but to offer an apology,” the source said.

According to the source, Shah had even said that the prime minister had nothing to do with the Panama Leaks and rather it was his children who were involved in the affair, a point of view not endorsed by the party’s central leadership. A few days later, Shah had told media that his party did not want resignation from the prime minister and it only wanted Nawaz Sharif to come to the parliament and respond to charges leveled against his family members in Panama Papers.

“Zardari has asked why Shah was being soft on the prime minister while his party chairman was taking a hard stance?” the source claimed.

“Asif Zardari has reprimanded Shah and asked him to not issue any statement on Panama Papers as the matter will be handled by Bilawal Bhutto, Latif Khosa and Aitzaz Ahsan,” the source added.

PPP TO FILE DISQUALIFICATION REFERENCES AGAINST PM SHARIF, SHEHBAZ, DAR AND OTHERS:

The source said that Asif Zardari has also directed PPP Secretary General Latif Khosa to submit a disqualification reference against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, Captain (r) Safdar and Hamza Shehbaz on Tuesday, the source said.

The source added that Bilawal Bhutto and Shah had landed in Karachi after spending some time in Dubai. But despite several attempts, Khursheed Shah could not be reached for comments.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE TOP:

Talking to Pakistan Today, Senator Latif Khosa said that PPPP President Asif Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have given clear directions to the party leadership that the PPP demands that accountability on Panama papers leaks must start from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members and that no leniency will be tolerated in this regard.

Asked whether Khursheed Shah had been reprimanded by Zardari for violating the party discipline, ‎Khosa said that he does not know, but added that Shah is a senior party leader. He said he was part of the meetings but there were indications that he had “briefed the party leadership on the issue”.

Khosa agreed that Shah had issued certain statements which were not according to party’s policy, but added that since Khursheed Shah is the opposition leader, he has to say what the entire opposition says.

“We need to understand that Shah is opposition leader and he has no office of the party. Hence his statements must be deemed the policy of the joint opposition on Panama Papers. Since two parties said they didn’t want PM’s resignation at an initial stage, Shah adopted a careful stance,” he added.

Asked when the PPP will file a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan seeking disqualification of PM Nawaz, Khosa said that he, along with other party leaders, will submit the ‎reference on Tuesday.