Military would play its due role as part of SC ordered JIT: ISPR
25 April, 2017
ISLAMABAD: The army's senior command resolved during the 202nd Corps Commanders' Conference at the General Headquarters on Monday that the military would play its 'due role' as part of the Supreme Court-ordered Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that would probe Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family's business dealings abroad.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that the forum had discussed the apex court's Panamagate verdict with special reference to the JIT. "The forum pledged that the institution, through its members in the JIT, shall play its due role in a legal and transparent manner, fulfilling [the] confidence reposed [in the military] by the apex court," the ISPR said.
The JIT is to include officials from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI), and will be led by an assistant director general-level officer from the FIA, according to the SC order.
The participants of the meeting also reviewed progress of the ongoing countrywide military offensive Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad.
It has been commented that the ISI and the MI have been included in the JIT to allay these concerns. On Saturday, the top court issued notices to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons, directing them to comply with the Panamagate verdict "as and when required". The development came a day after the SC ordered formation of a JIT to further probe offshore assets of the premier's family.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, one of the judges with a dissenting opinion in the 2:3 split verdict of the case, had said in the detailed judgement that the apex court had to entertain the case in the backdrop of an "unfortunate refusal/failure on the part of all the relevant institutions in the country", like the NAB, the FIA, the SBP, the Federal Board of Revenue and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, as well as the National Assembly speaker, to investigate the matter.
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