<p>PM&nbsp;Nawaz Sharif&#39;s legal&nbsp;team has dismissed as &quot;illegal and biased&quot; the Panama Papers probe by Pakistan&#39;s Joint investigation team&nbsp;(JIT).&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Joint Investigation Team in its final report recommended the filing of graft case against him and his children as the Supreme Court resumed the hearing of the Panama Papers graft case.</p>

<p>The JIT was formed after the Supreme Court&rsquo;s judgment on April 20 &nbsp;to probe Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family&#39;s offshore business dealings.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The panel submitted its 60-day investigation report to the court on July 10, pointing out discrepancies in the wealth details of Sharif and members of his family.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The report found them &ldquo;guilty&rdquo; of being beneficial owners of multiple offshore companies, and recommended initiation of reference against Sharif and his family members in the National Accountability Bureau.</p>

<p>Following the report, the special bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, issued notices to the parties to submit their responses.</p>

<p>The opposition parties have been demanding the prime minister&rsquo;s resignation since the JIT report became public.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Khawja Harris on behalf of PM Sharif filed a response to the JIT report, rejecting its findings and accusing it of bias and violation of the original mandate, reports PTI.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;The JIT report is not only against the law but also the constitution of the country and its finding are, therefore, of no legal value,&quot; he said.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Khawja Harris&nbsp;also objected to the documents obtained from the foreign countries, which he said was against laws of the country.&nbsp;He asked the court to provide the volume 10 of the report which was kept confidential on JIT&#39;s request.</p>

<p>Harris also urged the court to reject the JIT report.&nbsp;Finance minister Ishaq Dar on his behalf separately submitted objections over the JIT report in the Supreme Court registrar&#39;s office.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, Imran Khan&#39;s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s brother and current Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif over allegations of conflict of interest.&nbsp;The plea alleges that Shahbaz &quot;violated his oath&quot; that he took when he assumed the office of Punjab chief minister as he remained involved in his private business despite holding a public office.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The petition would be heard by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday.</p>

<p><strong>Pak Army distances itself</strong></p>

<p>The Pakistan Army has said that it has no direct link with the Panama case Joint Investigation Team against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members,&nbsp;</p>

<p>Reports had claimed that the army is part of a controversy to remove the civilian government.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Geo News quoted major general Asif Ghafoor, director general, of Pakistan Army&rsquo;s media wing as saying, &quot;I don&#39;t think this even merits a response. I have shown you what the army is doing&quot;.</p>

<p>Gafoor faced a flurry&nbsp;of questions on the Panamagate controversy during a press conference, ANI reported.</p>

<p>He said the members of the JIT worked with honesty and dedication and added that &quot;it is a sub-judice matter and the Supreme Court will make its decision in the case&quot;.</p>

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<p>Nawaz Sharif is the first sitting premier to appear before a team probing graft charges (WION)</p>
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The proceedings in the case are expected to begin from 9.30 am

PM Nawaz Sharif's legal team has dismissed as "illegal and biased" the Panama Papers probe by Pakistan's Joint investigation team (JIT). The Joint Investigation Team in its final report recommended the filing of graft case against him and his children as the Supreme Court resumed the hearing of the Panama Papers graft case. The JIT was formed after the Supreme Court’s judgment on April 20 to probe Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family's offshore business dealings. The panel submitted its 60-day investigation report to the court on July 10, pointing out discrepancies in the wealth details of Sharif and members of his family. The report found them “guilty” of being beneficial owners of multiple offshore companies, and recommended initiation of reference against Sharif and his family members in the National Accountability Bureau. Following the report, the special bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, issued notices to the parties to submit their responses. The opposition parties have been demanding the prime minister’s resignation since the JIT report became public. Khawja Harris on behalf of PM Sharif filed a response to the JIT report, rejecting its findings and accusing it of bias and violation of the original mandate, reports PTI. "The JIT report is not only against the law but also the constitution of the country and its finding are, therefore, of no legal value," he said. Khawja Harris also objected to the documents obtained from the foreign countries, which he said was against laws of the country. He asked the court to provide the volume 10 of the report which was kept confidential on JIT's request. Harris also urged the court to reject the JIT report. Finance minister Ishaq Dar on his behalf separately submitted objections over the JIT report in the Supreme Court registrar's office. Meanwhile, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s brother and current Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif over allegations of conflict of interest. The plea alleges that Shahbaz "violated his oath" that he took when he assumed the office of Punjab chief minister as he remained involved in his private business despite holding a public office. The petition would be heard by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday. Pak Army distances itself The Pakistan Army has said that it has no direct link with the Panama case Joint Investigation Team against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members, Reports had claimed that the army is part of a controversy to remove the civilian government. Geo News quoted major general Asif Ghafoor, director general, of Pakistan Army’s media wing as saying, "I don't think this even merits a response. I have shown you what the army is doing". Gafoor faced a flurry of questions on the Panamagate controversy during a press conference, ANI reported. He said the members of the JIT worked with honesty and dedication and added that "it is a sub-judice matter and the Supreme Court will make its decision in the case". Nawaz Sharif is the first sitting premier to appear before a team probing graft charges (WION) ×

Panama Papers case: PM Nawaz Sharif's legal team dismisses JIT report

<p>Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of &quot;leaking&quot; vital information about a high-level security meet to a newspaper.</p>

<p>However, in an unusual move, Pakistan&#39;s army &quot;rejected&quot; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif&#39;s decision to sack his trusted aide saying his action is &quot;incomplete&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected,&quot; military spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected.</p>
&mdash; Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/858257576210952192">April 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>The Pakistan prime minister had&nbsp;narrowly avoided being ousted&nbsp;after the country&#39;s top court this week directed a special team consisting of a judge and top&nbsp;military officers to investigate him and his family members accused of transferring assets in tax havens abroad which came to light as part of Panama Papers leaked by Wikileaks two years ago.</p>

<p>Fatemi considered to be a trusted aide of the prime minister is seen as a big setback for Nawaz Sharif already under pressure due to the Panama case verdict.</p>

<p>Sharif&#39;s approved an inquiry committee&#39;s recommendation to remove Fatemi from his post. The inquiry committee was set up last year to probe the controversy surrounding a controversial report by daily Dawn about a key meeting on national security.</p>

<p>Sharif also directed that the role of Dawn editor Zafar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida to&nbsp;be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them.</p>

<p>It said that the APNS, a representative body of print media, shall also be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media especially when dealing with issues relating to the security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms.</p>

<p>Sharif also ordered action against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information, under disciplinary rules for the charges based on findings in the report.</p>

<p>In October, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan.</p>

<p>The report had said that political leadership had accused army in the high-level meeting to stop creating hurdles in the way of crackdown on some militant entities.</p>

<p>The government denied its role but the army took a strong dislike to the story and relations between the army and the civil government deteriorated.</p>

<p>The PML-N government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was demanded by the army to fix responsibility. The report was submitted to the prime minister this week.</p>

<p>According to the inquiry report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the key meeting, and Sharif took action against him.</p>

<p>(WION with PTI inputs)</p>


Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of leaking vital information

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today sacked his special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi after an inquiry found him guilty of "leaking" vital information about a high-level security meet to a newspaper. However, in an unusual move, Pakistan's army "rejected" Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision to sack his trusted aide saying his action is "incomplete". "Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected," military spokesman Major Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted. Notification on Dawn Leak is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board. Notification is rejected. — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 29, 2017 × The Pakistan prime minister had narrowly avoided being ousted after the country's top court this week directed a special team consisting of a judge and top military officers to investigate him and his family members accused of transferring assets in tax havens abroad which came to light as part of Panama Papers leaked by Wikileaks two years ago. Fatemi considered to be a trusted aide of the prime minister is seen as a big setback for Nawaz Sharif already under pressure due to the Panama case verdict. Sharif's approved an inquiry committee's recommendation to remove Fatemi from his post. The inquiry committee was set up last year to probe the controversy surrounding a controversial report by daily Dawn about a key meeting on national security. Sharif also directed that the role of Dawn editor Zafar Abbas and reporter Cyril Almeida to be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) for necessary disciplinary action to be taken against them. It said that the APNS, a representative body of print media, shall also be asked to develop a Code of Conduct for the print media especially when dealing with issues relating to the security of Pakistan and to ensure that stories on issues of national importance and security are published by abiding to basic journalistic and editorial norms. Sharif also ordered action against Rao Tehsin Ali, Principal Information Officer of the Ministry of Information, under disciplinary rules for the charges based on findings in the report. In October, a columnist for Dawn newspaper wrote a front-page story about a rift between civilian and military leaderships over militant groups that operate from Pakistan but engage in proxy war against India and Afghanistan. The report had said that political leadership had accused army in the high-level meeting to stop creating hurdles in the way of crackdown on some militant entities. The government denied its role but the army took a strong dislike to the story and relations between the army and the civil government deteriorated. The PML-N government was forced to remove then information minister Pervaiz Rasheed but a probe was demanded by the army to fix responsibility. The report was submitted to the prime minister this week. According to the inquiry report, Fatemi was primarily responsible for leaking the report of the key meeting, and Sharif took action against him. (WION with PTI inputs)

Pak PM Nawaz Sharif sacks special adviser over security leak, Pak army 'rejects' move

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Panama Papers case: PM Nawaz Sharif's legal team dismisses JIT report

Pak PM Nawaz Sharif sacks special adviser over security leak, Pak army 'rejects' move