Amid clamour for his resignation in the face of corruption case, defiant Nawaz Sharif says he won't be stepping down as Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan PM
Pakistan's beleaguered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday refused to step down even as the clamour for his resignation got louder after the Panama case probe panel recommended filing of a graft case against him and his family.
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Addressing an emergency Cabinet meeting here, 67-year-old Sharif termed the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report a pack of "allegations and speculation", Dawn reported. The six-member JIT, probing Sharif family's offshore assets and alleged corruption, in a 10-volume damning report submitted to the Supreme Court on July 10 recommended that a corruption case should be filed against Sharif and his sons – Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz – as well as daughter Maryam.
At the first Cabinet meeting after the submission of the JIT report to the apex court, Sharif said that he would not resign as the prime minister on anyone's call. "The people of Pakistan have elected me and only they can remove me from this post," Prime Minister Sharif said, responding to the opposition parties who have been demanding his resignation following the release of the report. Sharif claimed that his family "earned nothing after entering politics, but lost a lot". The language used in the JIT report displays mala fide intentions, he said. According to official sources, Sharif consulted his cabinet colleagues about his future plan after demands by opposition to resign. The Cabinet members reposed full confidence in his leadership and endorsed his decision not to step down. They suggested that Sharif fight the legal battle to vindicate himself in the Panama Papers case.
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