Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif Refuses to Resign Over Panama Probe

Nawaz Sharif called the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report a pack of “allegations and speculations”

File photo of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waving to his supporters. (Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on 13 July, said he would not resign in the wake of the damning report by the Panama case probe panel that recommended filing of a graft case against him and his family.

While addressing an emergency Cabinet meeting in Islamabad, Sharif, 67, termed the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report a pack of "allegations and speculations", Dawn Online reported.

Pointing to the opposition parties who have been demanding his resignation following the release of the report, Sharif said:

The people of Pakistan have elected me and only they can remove me from this post.

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Sharif claimed that his family "earned nothing after entering politics, but lost a lot". The language used in the JIT report displays malafide intentions, he said.

Those demanding my resignation on false and unwarranted claims should first look at themselves.

According to the paper, the Cabinet members suggested that Sharif must fight the legal battle to vindicate himself in the Panama Papers case.

The six-member JIT that probed the Sharif family's business dealings in its 10-volume report submitted to the apex court on 10 July recommended that a corruption case should be filed against Sharif and his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, as well as daughter Maryam Nawaz, under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance 1999.

All major opposition political parties have asked him to step down and stay away from power until his name was cleared.

(With inputs from PTI.)