- Senior PML-N ministers hold explosive press conference; demand for video of proceedings to be released
- Saad says have reservations about reps of sensitive agencies in JIT
The federal government on Saturday put preconditions to the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), with key ministers saying that the government would not accept the JIT report if the investigators didn’t record a statement by a Qatari royal.
They also demanded of the court to make public all the video/audio recordings of the JIT proceedings so as the people could take a decision on their own. The demands were made by four key federal ministers including Khwaja Mohammed Asif, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while addressing a press conference here after a detailed meeting held at the Prime Minister’s House.
Khwaja Asif said that the government would reject the JIT report if the statement of the Qatari royal was not recorded and made part of the report. Though Saad Rafique and Ahsan Iqbal made veiled attacks on the judiciary and the military establishment, Asif said the government did not want to drag the military and the intelligence agency into a political mess.
“There is no role of the military and the intelligence agencies in political matters. They are securing our borders and rendering sacrifices and we have full cognizance of their sacrifices. It’s inappropriate to drag them into a political mess,” he added. He said that it would be a compromised report if evidence of the Qatari royal was not made part of the report.
“It would be a fixed fight. We wonder why JIT is reluctant to record the statement of the royal,” he questioned and added that if Mark Siegel’s statement could be recorded in the US regarding Benazir Bhutto’s case, why the recording of the statement of the prince was being avoided. “It would be a sheer injustice which is unacceptable for us,” he argued.
Asif said that the judiciary had given immunity to Iftikhar Chaudhry, a former chief justice. “In Arsalan Iftikhar case, Arsalan was summoned but his father was not. Instances of prophets were quoted to justify immunity to the then chief justice. We are politicians and we don’t seek immunity,” he added.
He also made a demand that the video and audio recordings of the JIT proceedings should be made public for consumption of 200 million people which constitute the biggest court of the country. “The nation has right to know what questions were asked to the prime minister and his family and what were their answers,” he said.
“Rather than censoring the proceedings of the JIT, the same should be made public and (the court) should direct mass proliferation through TVs and CDs,” he added. Asif also questioned the opening of the Panama case, saying that the original jurisdiction of the (Panama) case was the countries where the offshore companies of Nescol, Neilson and the flagship investments had been registered.
“While there is not a single case registered, why the matter is being investigated in Pakistan,” he argued and said that Godfather and Sicilian Mafias don’t wage the struggle for independence of the judiciary. Saad said that despite the fact that the ruling party had reservations over the inclusion of two members of the intelligence agencies and the ministers had advised the prime minister that civilian intelligence agencies could have been included in the JIT.
“It is a fact that we had reservations over the inclusion of intelligence agencies’ representatives but the prime minister went ahead as he wanted to avoid any situation,” he told the journalists. He further said that the government also had reservations against two members of the JIT but it decided to go ahead with its submissions before the investigators.
He said that Amir Aziz, a member of the JIT, had been involved in the investigation in the National Accountability Bureau against Sharif family under the tenure of General Pervez Musharraf. “Bilal Rasool, another JIT member from SECP, is a close relative of Mian Azhar and his wife was in the PML-Q and now she is a member of the PTI,” he pointed out.
He said that the JIT has misbehaved with Tariq Shafi and Saeed Ahmed, the president of NBP, while they were making statements before the JIT. He said that the phone tapping of a conversation between Tariq Shafi and Haroon Pasha also was illegal when Shafi had visited the Prime Minister’s House. Under what law have they been tapping phones of PM’s House as reported by JIT in its provisional report, he questioned.
“Which law provides the recording of phones of civilians other than terrorists,” he argued. The minister made it clear that the government had no intention of confrontation with the court and they don’t want to take the country towards disorder. However, he said that the institutions must respect the parliament and the elected government.
Referring to the remarks of Godfather and Sicilian mafia, Saad said that the government observed restraint despite legal advice to move court. “We were informed that FIA would lead the JIT but a news item has appeared claiming that an intelligence agency was leading the JIT which has yet not been contradicted. We have not been shared with this development. We don’t see justice being done,” he said.
Ahsan Iqbal came down hard over Imran Khan, saying that the PTI chief had been making successive attempts to come into power through backdoor but said the PML-N would foil all such attempts as it had done in the past. “From day one, Imran Khan has been conspiring against the public mandate of PML-N,” he pointed out.
“The way prime minister, the finance minister, PM’s daughter, sons and other relatives were summoned defamed the state. A petition which had been termed frivolous in the past is being used to come into power through a backdoor,” he asserted. He said those calling Godfather and Sicilian Mafia should tell whether courts and JIT’s can function under godfather rule?
Shahid Khaqan said the prime minister could have sought immunity under the law from the JIT but he preferred to face justice. He said that the daughter of the prime minister and his sons and relatives also faced the JIT questioning. He said that all the proceedings of the JIT should be made public so as facts could be brought before the masses. He made it clear that the ruling party was not afraid of its accountability but it wanted equal and fair judicial process.