LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday announced to sue PTI Chairman Imran Khan for accusing the former of offering Rs 10 billion to the latter for keeping mum over the Panama leaks issue.
The chief minister also urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice on Imran’s statement wherein he had alleged that some members of the SC bench were also approached, but they did not accept the money offer.
Imran Khan must name the person within three days, who had reached him with an offer on behalf of the chief minister to accept Rs 10 billion in return for keeping silent on the Panama leaks, Punjab Government Spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said.
Malik Muhammad Khan termed the statement of Imran Khan fabricated and false, which aimed to maligning the chief minister. He also indicated at seeking disqualification of Imran Khan under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution on the basis of his false statement against the chief minister once the court of competent jurisdiction admitted the defamation case.
As the first step, a legal notice would be served on Imran Khan if he failed to come up with the name of the person who made the Rs 10 billion offer as the CM’s emissary, Malik Muhammad Ahmad affirmed.
He said the chief minister would sue Khan in his personal capacity, adding his announcement to sue Khan was not a political stunt. “We will sue Imran Khan to expose his false statement,” he added. He also invited attention of the Supreme Court to a recently given interview of Imran Khan to a TV channel wherein he had made veiled observations about the money offer to the judges.
To a question, he said they would fully cooperate with the JIT on the Panama inquiry, adding the prime minister would not step down on the opposition’s demand.
To a question on Asif Ali Zardari’s tirade against the federal government, Malik Muhammad Ahmad said the PPP co-chairperson was fanning ethnicity by giving such statements. He said Zardari’s statement that the Punjab was using the funds of KP concerning CPEC projects was baseless. He also welcomed Zardari to the Punjab, asking him to tell the Pujabians about the hollow performance of PPP government in Sindh.
To a question on the PPP protest against loadshedding, he said it only intended to cover up the embarrassment which this party faced during its rule for loadshedding and added the PML-N protested the PPP loadshedding when the latter committed corruption in rental power projects and initiated no programme to overcome the power outages. Contrary to it, the PML-N had started a number of projects which were about to end loadshedding, he claimed.
On the public rally of the PTI in Islamabad, he said it was a bid to bring the judiciary under pressure on the Panama leaks.