Pak speaker sends plea seeking Pak PM's disqualification to EC

Lahore: The National Assembly Speaker has sent a petition by Opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf seeking the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the wake of the 'Panama Papers Leaks' to the Election Commission.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq today said that the reference seeking Sharif's disqualification has been sent to EC to "strengthen" the parliamnet.

"I decided to send the reference to ECP to strengthen the parliament...The decision was taken after I went through the documents," Dawn quoted Sadiq as saying.

On August 15, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's PTI had filed a reference against Sharif demanding his disqualification as a member of the National Assembly.

PTI's deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, chief whip Shireen Mazari and senior leader Arif Alvi handed over the reference to Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in his office.

The petition was part of PTI's political efforts in the wake of the Panama Papers Leaks involving the prime minister, the party said in a statement.

Citing Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, the PTI had said Sharif fell under the criterion to be disqualified as a member of the National Assembly.

Sharif has been under fire since the leak of 11 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in April disclosed Sharif's two sons and a daughter owned properties in the UK that were not shown on his family's wealth statement.

The allegations that Sharif hid his offshore wealth to avoid taxes has called his credentials into question.

The allegations had led to panic among the top members of the ruling PML-N party. Sharif had left for London soon after the leak on an unscheduled visit for medical treatment.

He returned to Pakistan after eight weeks and following an open heart surgery on May 31.

Sharif has dismissed the leaks calling it a work of people "targeting me and my family for their political aims". He also suggested that those "who use ill-gotten wealth don't keep assets in their own names".

The 'Panama Papers' - as the leaks came to be known - revealed details of dodgy offshore financial dealings gleaned from millions of leaked documents from the Panamanian firm.