Pakistan Supreme Court seeks details of PM’s career

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday asked key questions from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer regarding his political career.

Conducting a fresh hearing in the Panama Papers case, a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court asked the defence lawyer to tell the exact date of Nawaz Sharif’s appointment as the minister of finance in Punjab, the Punjab chief minister, elevation as the Prime Minister and date of his forced exile during Pervez Musharraf’s military rule.

The bench hinted at tracing any misuse of public office by Nawaz Sharif. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the Prime Minister had claimed that in 1972 the then government had nationalised the Ittefaq Foundry without his family receiving a single penny, questioning from where Mr Sharif got money to invest in a Dubai steel mill.

PTI’s lawyer Naeem Bokhari said Mr Sharif had misguided legislators through his speech in the National Assembly. Earlier, Justice Khosa decided to conduct hearings on a daily basis.