ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, said on Wednesday the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Sharif family’s assets has no case against them.
Speaking to the media after her questioning by the Panama case JIT at the Federal Judicial Academy, she thanked supporters for assembling at the venue.
Maryam , well composed, said she answered honestly all the questions asked by the JIT members.
Whatever they asked, I answered, despite the fact that my name was not in Panama case, I answered to all questions and faced the JIT,” she said.
“I asked them once their questions ended what we are accused of? They didn’t have an answer!” she narrated.
“After six months in the Supreme Court and 70 days in the JIT, I realised today they have nothing against us,” she explained.
She took particular issue with the JIT’s probe into her family’s private businesses, saying nobody had a right to look into the private accounts of the Sharif family’s businesses.
“If public money was involved, then we are answerable, but that is not the case regarding private businesses,” she said.
“Those who have cases of misuse of public funds open against them have petitioned for stay orders. We however can justify our properties and have been doing so,” she claimed.
“Why are those who have no businesses and no source of income not being questioned,” she asked, making a veiled reference to PTI chief Imran Khan, who was also accused by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of owning wealth beyond his means.
“They thought my father would be pressured by using his daughter’s name,” she said. “Those who think Nawaz Sharif’s daughter is his weakness will find she is his strength.”
“Those who have no regard for daughters and family values will never understand these things,” she added, in what appeared to be another attack aimed at Imran Khan. “If you are targeting me because I am Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, I will fight back because I am his daughter.”
The prime minister’s daughter also warned her father’s detractors that they should fear the day PM Sharif brings out the skeletons from their closets. “The secrets he carries and the conspiracies against him — don’t push him to the point where he must reveal those,” she said.
“If you conspire against Nawaz Sharif, he will return stronger than before… He will become PM for the fourth, fifth time. Stop him if you can,” she challenged.
“Stop him or the power crisis will end. Stop him or the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be completed. Stop him or he will win the 2018 election.”
This is the first JIT in the world that has been formed before knowing what charges to level, she said, reiterating what her brothers have claimed earlier.
The premier’s daughter vowed there is not a shred of evidence against Nawaz Sharif over misuse of public funds, saying “not a penny has been misappropriated”.
“I was also wrongly involved in the Dawn Leaks case. The reason is the same: to put a father under pressure by targeting his daughter.
“Those saying they’ll make us cry should know only God can make us bow down and cry and because we belong to the ruling family, our judgment by God will be the most strict,” she said further.
Concluding her speech, she did not take any questions from the media.
Following the speech, the premier’s son Hussain Nawaz briefly took the mic, saying questions over money trails should also be asked from those who have assets in Pakistan.
Earlier, accompanied by her husband, two bothers, minister of state for information Maryam Aurangzeb, Maryam reached the Federal Judicial Academy at around 11am.
Before proceeding inside for the session, Maryam waved to supporters gathered outside the academy.
Prior to her departure from the PM House, Maryam was seen embracing her mother, Kalsoom Nawaz, who is holding the Holy Quran.
Islamabad Police extended the security perimeter around the academy prior to Maryam’s arrival and deployed more than 2,500 personnel on various security duties in light of Maryam’s visit. Four SPs, 11 DSPs and 13 inspectors were overseeing the security plan, with Special Branch SP Arsala Saleem deputed specifically for the security of the premier’s daughter.
Contingents of Rangers and Frontier Constabulary were also deployed around the academy since early morning. Similar security measures were put in place on June 15, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before the JIT.
Posters in favour of Maryam were put up in the vicinity while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers from Rawalpindi, Lahore and Gujranwala had left for the academy to ‘express their support for the daughter of the nation’.
In Rawalpindi, a rally led by PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi and the city’s mayor, Sardar Nasim, forced its way towards the Federal Judicial Academy after removing police barriers.
The I-9 police attempted to restrict the highly-charged PML-N supporters but they forced their way onward, and did not even heed to the call of their party leaders.
Traffic police had earlier closed down the main road into Sector H-8 — where the academy is situated — from the I-8 Interchange and later blocked the Islamabad Expressway from the Faizabad Interchange in light of Maryam’s arrival.
