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In a first, Prime Minister of Pakistan appears before JIT for interrogation

Srinagar: For the first time in its constitutional history, any sitting Prime Minister of Pakistan is appearing before an interrogating team for corruption.

Alleged to have swindled millions of Pakistani rupees which came to fore through Panama leaks, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the PM of Pakistan, on Thursday reached the the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) in Islamabad to undergo interrogation before Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court.

Security has been tightened and an extensive protocol for his appearance before the joint investigation team (JIT) probing his family’s involvement in the Panama Papers leak case has been established.

The JIT was formed after a five bench Supreme Court agreed for further investigation in to the personal property and businesses of Sharifs.

Nawaz’s two sons were also interrogated, one at least five times and his younger brother and Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif has also been summoned by the JIT.

The personal secretary of Mian Nawaz Sharif will be the only one allowed to enter the FJA building with him.

But the Pakistan premier will face the JIT panel all alone.

Sharif presided over a high-level consultative session prior to his departure for the Federal Judicial Academy where he will be probed by the Panama case JIT.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are also attending the meeting.

Dar briefed the premier over the documents he will be taking along with him.

Following the Supreme Court directions, under which the JIT works, the investigating agency had prepared the questionnaire for the prime minister and his children last month.

The PM, however, has been called as a witness, not as an accused party in the corruption case.

The JIT is expected to question Nawaz as how his family acquired huge amount of wealth which spreads to London as well.

Under scanner is the prime minister’s speeches which he delivered on different forums after the Panama Papers surfaced, including his address to the nation, his speech in the National Assembly and his statement before the Supreme Court.

The JIT is also investigating a letter which has come from Qatar regarding the wealth of the PM. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani, the author of the letter, has offered investigators the opportunity to come to Qatar to record his statement.

The son-in-law of the prime minister retired Captain Mohammad Safdar has also been summoned by the JIT on June 25.

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