Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree filed an application on Friday requesting the Lahore High Court to disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of money laundering.
He moved the application in his pending petition seeking directions for politicians and lawyers among others to bring their foreign assets to Pakistan.
He said Sharif had caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by sending money abroad through illegal means. He said the prime minister failed to meet the criteria set to qualify as a member of parliament under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
He requested that a seven-judge bench be formed to hear the petition on disqualification.
Jaffree had filed his main petition in 1996. He had originally nominated 26 political leaders. Later, he amended it to add more names. He alleged that these politicians had illegally transferred around $30 billion to foreign countries.
He said the politicians were yet to submit their affidavits in court even though they had been sent several orders. He said the country was facing acute financial crisis because of their [politicians’] actions, if they brought back the money to Pakistan, the citizens could receive some relief. He said the politicians’ actions had led to unemployment, price-hike and poverty in the country.
He said they had made Pakistan a laughing stock in the civilised world. He asked the court to obtain details of their bank accounts and foreign assets and order them to bring them to the country.
The respondents include Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, his son Hussain Nawaz; Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif; Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and his ex- wife Jemima Goldsmith; former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and his wife; former president Asif Ali Zardari, and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari; Senator Faryal Talpur; Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan; former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf; former interior minister Rehman Malik; Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid chief Chaudhry Shujaat Ali Khan; former chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi; former ministers Faisal Saleh Hayat, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Javed Hashmi and Maulana Fazalur Rehman; Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq; Farooq Sattar and Jahangir Tareen among others.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2014.