Panama case: PM is not seeking immunity under Article 248, counsel clarifies

ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa resumed hearing the Panama Leaks case on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister's counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan clarified that the Prime Minister had not sought immunity under Article 248 of the constitution. The speech could not be presented as evidence in the case, he argued.

The court asked him to focus on the main issue. "We are not prosecuting the Prime Minister over his speech," the court remarked.

Maryam Nawaz, the PM's daughter submitted her reply in the court where she stated that after her marriage in 1992 she is no longer dependent on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The reply states five-year tax return records of her agriculture and non-agriculture income.

The hearing has been adjourned till January 17 (Wednesday).

Nawaz Sharif will stay PM even after 2018: Khawaja Saad Rafique

Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Saad Rafique predicted that Nawaz Sharif will stay prime minister even after 2018. In a direct attack at Imran Khan he said that he changes colours "faster than a chameleon".

State Minister for Information Maryam Aurangzeb argued that the PM had not asked for immunity.

Daniyal Aziz said that Imran Khan hurls allegations but he does not have any evidence to present in the court. 

He said that Imran Khan had already submitted an apology in the foreign funding case in the ECP. "Very soon he will submit an apology in the SC," he said.

He added that in the case it was important to include article 62 and article 19 of the constitution.

PM lied in the parliament, Imran Khan alleges

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan alleged that the Prime Minister had lied to the nation on the floor of the parliament, and so was asking for immunity in the court. “What would the position of the parliament be if he the prime minister lies on its floor.”

The Prime Minister had no idea that he will be held accountable in the Supreme Court, he added.

He said that the Prime Minister had read from a written text in the parliament, he had not spoken extempore, and so his speech could not be ignored during proceedings of the Panama Leaks case. “Initially he said all of the family worked together. Now he is saying they are all separate entities.”

Imran Khan alleged that the government was behaving like a “mafia”. “This is not the role of the government. They are just trying to make us shut up. I have never been in power. How will I do corruption,” he said.

Lawyers stop people from entering SC premises

Prior to the hearing, a group of lawyers at the Supreme Court stopped Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shafqat Mehmood from entering the premises. The lawyers then stopped PTI leader Shireen Mazari but she managed to get in. They next stopped the Prime Minister’s counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan. After much discussion the PM's counsel finally made it inside the courtroom.

According to details, the lawyers staged a protest over a housing society for which land and a No-Objection Certificate has not been issued. The attorney general summoned DG Housing over the issue in the afternoon today.  

In the last hearing, PM’s counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan during his arguments referred to past rulings of the Supreme Court. He discussed at length the disqualification of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. 

The bench raised questions over the Prime Minister’s speech in the parliament. In his remarks Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan said that first the prime minister had said he had not misrepresented information. “Now he is arguing that even if he misrepresented information, he has immunity.”