Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif travelled from Lahore to Islamabad to attend the meeting. The members of the meeting were reportedly divided over the issue of the resignation of the Prime Minister. Some party leaders were in favour that Prime Minister should withdraw from his position while some were against his resignation, arguing that this would weaken the party.
Sources said that a legal team briefed the Prime Minister about the JIT report and participants of the meeting also discussed points of argument that may be raised in the apex court. On Monday night, a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister directed the legal team to prepare its response.
The meeting was reportedly attended by Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Petroleum Khaqan Abbasi, Barrister Zafarullah and other party leaders.
PM facing reference prospect?: There is no provision in National Accountability Ordinance that bars filing of a reference against the sitting Prime Minister and the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) chief would have no option but to proceed if Supreme Court endorses the recommendation of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the Panama papers case to file a reference against the Premier, legal experts said.
The JIT, tasked by the apex court to probe the allegations in the Panama papers against the Sharif family, in its report submitted to the court on Monday, recommended NAB file a reference against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children.
However, a final decision on the NAB's reference will be made by the Supreme Court's three-member bench, led by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, when it resumes its proceedings on Monday [July 17]. Talking to Business Recorder, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a senior lawyer of Supreme Court and former PML-N senator, said the NAB has no option other than to file a reference against the Prime Minister in case the Supreme Court orders him to file a reference against him.
"There is no such provision in NAB laws that prevents the body from filing a reference against a sitting Prime Minister. If the Supreme Court orders the filing of a reference, NAB has no other option but to proceed," he said.
Referring to the incumbent chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry's statement before the Supreme Court in the Hudabiya Paper Mills case that NAB will stand by the decision of his predecessor (who had refused to challenge the four-year old Lahore High Court verdict) and not file an appeal with the apex court, Shah said that it is the incumbent Chairman's personal statement otherwise NAB laws do not exempt the sitting Premier to be tried in the accountability body.
Legal experts however contend that the court may seek the Prime Minister's resignation given the incumbent Chairman's earlier statement on the Hudabiya Paper Mills as well as the fear that institutions working under his authority have 'tampered' with documents in the past (SECP, for example) and may do so in future. To a question whether the Chairman NAB has any option to refuse filing a possible reference against the Prime Minister on Supreme Court's order, Ikram Chaudhry, former vice-president Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said the NAB chief is bound to abide by the apex courts orders.
"He [chairman NAB] must obey the orders of the court," he added. Since, the slot of Chairman NAB is a constitutional post and he cannot be removed directly by any authority other than the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), Chaudhry added that anyone may file a complaint against Chairman NAB in the SJC for action against him. "If he [chairman NAB] is reluctant to abide by the court order then Supreme Judicial Council can be approached against him for his removal", he argued.
According to Section 6 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), Chairman NAB is to be appointed by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly for a [non-extendable] period of four years on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the President and shall not be removed except on the grounds of removal of Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan, provided that the present incumbent of the office of Chairman, NAB, shall complete the period of four years from the date of his initial appointment...The Chairman NAB may, in writing under his hand, addressed to the President, resign his office".
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PNML-N) rejected the JIT report as "trash" and vowed to challenge the findings soon after the JIT members submitted it to the apex court on Monday as well as after consultations with senior members of the party in the Prime Minister's House on Tuesday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017