Pakistan's top court ordered the prime minister be investigated for corruption Thursday, in a highly anticipated decision that granted Nawaz Sharif a temporary reprieve as judges said there was insufficient evidence to oust him from power.
The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), in light of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Panama Papers case, on Saturday gave an ultimatum to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to resign within a week, or face a lawyers' movement bigger than the one that of 2007. "The Prime Minister should immediately resign at least for the 60 days until JIT completes its work", Khan told reporters, referring to the joint investigation team.
A five-judge bench, comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, delivered the landmark judgement after examining arguments presented in the case.
Owning offshore companies is not illegal in Pakistan, but Sharif's opponents allege that he had bought properties in London by laundering money during his previous two terms as PM in 1990s.
The issue came to light after the leaking past year of the "Panama Papers", when documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca showed Sharif's children owned companies based in tax havens and had used them to buy property in London.
On the whole, the court's decision to form the JIT to investigate the case further is being seen as clever ploy to stall the case which, like all previously formed JITs, will fall into obscurity.
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Apparently, Sharif and his immediate family have survived in the ruling, for no part of the verdict directly declares them guilty.
Despite the fact that the prime minister says that the London property was acquired via a transparent and legitimate procedure, refuting all the accusations, Sharif's opponents claim that the purchase violated the law.
The LHCBA vice president, meanwhile, highlighted that questions that the top court had raised over the absence of a money trail for the Sharif family's alleged offshore wealth can not be ignored.
Prime Minister Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, sons - Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, retired Capt Muhammad Safdar (the PM's son-in-law) and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar were among the respondents in the case. He said that we supported Nawaz Sharif during sit-in to save democracy. But it's not the first time the prime minister's wealth has been in the spotlight.
Lady Luck smiled on Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today when the Supreme Court stopped short of disqualifying him over corruption charges.
Approximately 1,500 police officers were reportedly deployed in the vicinity of the court in Islamabad.
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