Supreme Court says evidence will decide Sharif case verdict

Lawyer for PM’s family says neither is JIT report athentic, nor was its investigation fair

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has said it will give its verdict regarding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification, after receiving evidence and clarifications of the Sharif family’s money trail.

A three-member bench of the court — headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal and including Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — resumed the hearing into the Panamagate case on Tuesday, during which the bench said that the matter could have been resolved by showing evidence of assets and income.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan said the Sharif family adopted the approach to not tell anything to the JIT, which was tasked to inspect every available record.

‘Overstepped mandate’

Presenting arguments against the JIT’s report, Sharif family lawyer Khawaja Harris said the inquiry panel overstepped its mandate, as it was tasked to find answers to only thirteen questions — but included two more queries on its own. He said neither was the JIT report authentic nor its probe fair.

No probe can be carried out on the basis of the report, Harris argued, as the JIT didn’t collect evidence through legal sources.

He said the Sharif family’s views were not taken while compiling the report.

The documents could have been taken from foreign governments as per National Accountability Bureau (NAB) rules.

Justice Ejaz Afzal said it was not valid to dismiss records on the ground that they were gathered from third party.

Justice Ijaz said that NAB rule also suggests that subordinate departments of government come under the definition of foreign states.