Imran to lodge protest in NA over rejection of references

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan is scheduled to participate in National Assembly session on Thursday to protest against rejection of references against premier by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq over Panama leaks.

Sources privy to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf stated that the party chief will lodge protest in the assembly against Ayaz Sadiq’s decision to not entertain references regarding Panama leaks against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Reportedly, Imran Khan has finalised his discussion with senior members of the party over address in the National Assembly.

Earlier, Speaker of the National Assembly had dismissed all four references filed against Nawaz Sharif while those against secretary general of PTI Jahangir Tareen and party leader were forwarded to Election Commission of Pakistan.

Sources also stated that Khan is likely to extend invitations to opposition parties to join him in his march to Raiwind on September 24 against premier s alleged corruption.

Raiwind march was announced by the PTI Chairman on Tuesday while addressing a rally in Karachi.

The formal decision came days after senior members of the political party tabled options before Khan to choose from as his next course-of-action after he is done with rallies in different cities.

Jati Umra locality of Lahore’s Raiwind is home to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On the other hand, Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Khurshid Shah has hinted moving to court against Ayaz Sadiq’s decision.

Joint opposition comprising of Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League and others will convene a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue.

It should also be noted here that vice-chairman of PTI, Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a meeting with Khurshid Shah. Qureshi said that even institutions of the country have maintained dual standards over Panama leaks.

Shah said that government could only be ‘saved’ if Speaker of the National Assembly maintains a neutral stance.

The last time opposition party’s chief, Khan had addressed the National Assembly was in May, right around the time when a joint committee was formed, comprising of six members from the government and the opposition each for probe of Panama leaks using Terms of References.

In his address then, he called for premier’s accountability and his family members.

He clarified that he did own an offshore company but he did not evade taxes or stash wealth abroad but it was completely legal as advised by his lawyers back in the day.

During that time, he had bought a property abroad but the entire process was legitimate, he claimed.

Meanwhile, Khan had stressed probing premier’s sources of income.

Panama Papers published documents in April which were leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca and studied by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The documents contained list of around 140 leaders of the world from different countries who owned offshore companies.

In Pakistan, different opposition parties alleged the premier of using offshore companies to shift money abroad and evade taxes.

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