LAHORE - The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had no moral justification to remain in office after Joint Investigation Team’s report on the Panama Papers.
The bar once again gave one week to the prime minister to step down and threatened to expand their protest to all parts of the country.
Addressing a press conference at the bar office, LHCBA President Zulfiqar Ali Chaudhry said the JIT report endorsed the stance of the lawyers demanding prime minister’s resignation over Panama Papers. He expressed dismay at the statement of Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal and demanded action against him.
Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Ahsan Bhoon also demanded that PM Nawaz should go home.
Bar Vice President Rashid Lodhi, Secretary Aamir Saeed Rawn, Finance Secretary Zaheer Butt and supporters and lawyers were also present on the occasion.
Lodhi praised JIT members for holding an inquiry into the allegations against the Sharif family within the given time and observed that they had set an example of courage and honesty. “The Sharif family has established a dictatorship in the name of democracy,” he said.
Rawn said it was awful that the prime minister and his family members submitted fake documents to the Supreme Court. “Nawaz Sharif must be booked for submitting fake documents to the court,” he said.
The bar leaders demanded that authorities put the names of members of the Sharif family on the Exit Control List so that they could not flee the country, and vowed to continue their struggle for supremacy of law. They said they were united to protect honour and integrity of the state institutions, especially the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary Aftab Bajwa told The Nation that they would widen their protest to press the prime minister to resign.
If he refuses to do so, they said, they would march on Prime Minister’s House. “We’ll lay siege to Prime Minister’s House if he fails to tender his resignation,” Bajwa said.
The Supreme Court Bar Association, he said, would convene executive committee meeting in Islamabad on July 14 and decide its future course of action. The Sharif family has proven itself very dangerous for development and prosperity of the country, he said. “The state has become bankrupt owing to family’s corruption,” Bajwa said.
He said that corruption by the Sharif family encouraged people to indulge in corrupt practices. He said that Sharifs damaged the country more than terrorism. “Terrorism hasn’t caused as much damage to the state as this family,” he said.
Answering a question about the lawyers’ movement against the ruling party and the Sharif family, he said, “The Pakistan Bar Council promised to join us after the JIT report, which has now been made public.
The PBC should now join us, as the report is quite clear about Sharifs’ role in corruption.” Last week, the bar leaders announced they would wait for the JIT report and then decide the future of their movement against the ruling party.
He pointed out that JIT’s report was a verdict against Nawaz Sharif and other members of his family.
However, lawyers are not as united as they were against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The spirit of fighting the military dictator at that time had given lawyers’ movement a new life.
This spirit is absent from the ongoing movement because many lawyers support the democratic process and want accountability of all corrupt people.
Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir tweeted, “To get rid of Mafias, start with many holding high positions. Courtesy establishment, NOT avenge only those who crossed the line.”
She also tweeted, “If charged — all those who were with the PML-N government in the past should also be disqualified, as they were collaborators to corruption.”
Lawyers’ forums of other opposition parties are also supporting LHCBA’s stance, but many lawyers, including PML-N lawyers’ forum, are still on the other side of the aisle.