ONBOARD PM’S AIR CRAFT: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said he was not answerable to the opposition on Panama leaks and that there was no justification for the opposition to raise hue and cry after his letter to the chief justice to form a commission to probe the issue.
“Few politicians are behaving like a commission within themselves and are giving self-verdicts based on allegations and negativity,” the prime minister told media persons on his way back home from Tajikistan, where he attended the launching ceremony of CASA-1000 project.
The prime minister said he was earnestly awaiting the formation of judicial commission on Panama leaks so that the nation could get a clear picture of the matter. He said he will talk about the controversy before the judicial commission only. “It is my genuine desire that a commission led by chief justice of Supreme Court is formed at the earliest,” he said.
The prime minister said his family was affiliated with business since 1937 and suffered immense financial loss of their East Pakistan-based factory following the fall of Dhaka and another in Pakistan due to nationalisation by the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “Nobody cares for our massive financial losses but they keep on asking about our assets,” he said, and added that the opposition’s criticism was not meant to bring any improvement in the country but was aimed only at targeting him personally. He said the opposition should rather follow a development-oriented agenda as negative politics had always proved detrimental for the country. “Those having such nefarious designs should focus on protecting Pakistan’s interests,” he said, adding that the opposition’s agenda was nothing more than sit-ins and protests.
On relations with Central Asia, Nawaz Sharif said these states had expressed great interest in enhancing connectivity with Pakistan. He said Central Asia and China had half of the population of the globe and offered vast potential for economic activity.
On CASA-1000 project, the prime minister said that Pakistan would start getting 1,000MW electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan via Afghanistan in 2018 to meet its huge energy demands in summers. He said the transparency and pace of work on CASA-1000 project was remarkable and expressed confidence that Afghanistan would ensure safety of the project.
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