Pak court rejects Sharif's objections to supplementary case in Panama Papers scandal
Islamabad: An accountability court in Pakistan today rejected ousted premier Nawaz Sharif's objections to the supplementary case filed against him and his family by the country's anti-graft body over properties in London.
The court holding trial in graft cases against Sharif and his family decided that the supplementary case would be made part of the record in the Avenfield flats case.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on January 22 filed a supplementary case with the accountability court's registrar in Islamabad which is already trying Sharif and his family -- two sons Hussain and Hassan, daughter Maryam, and son-in-law Safdar -- for alleged corruption in three cases.
The cases are related to the Panama Papers scandal that had forced the 68-year-old three-time prime minister to resign.
Accompanied by daughter Maryam and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar, Sharif for the 15th time appeared in the court located in Islamabad.
During the hearing today, conducted by Judge Muhammad Bashir, Nawaz Sharif s lawyer Khawaja Haris had raised an objection over the supplementary reference, saying there is nothing new in it.
"The reference has been filed in line with the JIT report and no Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) report has so far been filed, said Haris.
According to him, the NAB had said that a supplementary reference would be filed when new evidence is found against the suspects but that is not the case. The supplementary reference had to be filed in reply to a legal consultation.
Haris stressed that the supplementary reference was not as per the order of the top court and thus could not be accepted.
"The supplementary reference was filed to target Sharif and even in that reference, the same allegations already levelled in the interim reference were repeated," he said.
The three cases against the Sharif family pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, several companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and London's Avenfield properties.
Sharif and his sons have been named in all three NAB cases, while Maryam and Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield case.
The political future of Sharif, who heads the country's most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, has been hanging in the balance since his ouster. If convicted, he could be jailed.
Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
