Panamagate JIT grills Maryam Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Decrying the Panamagate investigation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday said that despite the fact her name was not in the Supreme Court’s verdict but she turned up for quizzing for supremacy of the law.

Talking to media outside the Federal Judicial Academy, Maryam said that the premier’s children are being targeted under a conspiracy. “We have been going through the accountability test for decades but no allegation of corruption has ever proved against us,” she said.

Claiming opponents of running a witch hunt against Nawaz Sharif, she claimed to answer all posed questions by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT). However, she did not divulge the details of the grilling session span around two hours.

“I just posed one question during the JIT interrogation. I queried them about the allegations on us but they had no answer to give,” Maryam claimed.

She deplored the investigation pertaining to personal businesses of Sharif family, as what she said: “Neither it makes any sense to pose questions regarding personal businesses nor answering such queries.”

Maryam also alleged that some political quarters, in a bid to erect hurdles for the ruling party, have been involving her name in controversies, as daughter of the premier. “Its not first time, Dawnleaks was another controversy in which my name was deliberately involved,” she asserted.

Earlier today, Maryam Nawaz arrived at the JIT secretariat amid tight security with an entourage of eight vehicles. Her spouse Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar and brothers, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, as well as PML-N leaders, including Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister of State for Information, accompanied her to the JIT secretariat.

As she alighted from her vehicle she waved at cameras and the party activists who converged outside the JIT building to show solidarity with their leader.

She was the ninth member of the family to be summoned by the JIT for interrogation with regard to the Panama Papers probe.

The law enforcement agencies had made special security arrangements as personnel of paramilitary force including frontier constabulary have been deployed in the vicinity of the JIT secretariat and along the route. The roads leading to the premises have also been cordoned off.

In a series of tweets yesterday, Maryam resolved to face the challenge and said that her father has seen and been through “most testing times, in the 30 plus years of his political career acing out his rivals” yet as an affectionate and protective father, she saw his eyes filled with concern and apprehensions over his daughter’s appearance before JIT.

He has seen & been through the most testing times, in the 30+ years of his political career, acing out his rivals, 1/4

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 4, 2017

I told him that I am your daughter, trained by you, will neither cower down, nor yield to pressure & nothing will deter me 3/4

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 4, 2017

 

yet as an affectionate & protective father,I saw his eyes filled with concern & apprehensions over his daughter’s appearance before JIT.2/4

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 4, 2017

from taking up the cudgels against transgression and injustice. Will appear before the JIT, follow the rule of law as you always have …4/4

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 4, 2017

 

The JIT is winding up the probe as it is required to submit its final report before the Supreme Court by the deadline of July 10. It has been given 60 days to probe the Sharif family’s properties and the money trail behind it as part of the verdict announced in the Panama Papers case.