LONDON: Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider said that it’s an open secret now that former prime minister and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was disqualified on weak and unjustified grounds of Iqama [work permit] and not the Panama Papers.
Speaking to the media here, he said Nawaz’s disqualification has been rejected by Kashmiris because it’s a well-known fact now that his ouster has nothing to do with accountability and has damaged Pakistan.
The AJK prime minister along with senior minister Tariq Farooq is visiting European capitals to apprise them about the human rights violations of Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces.
Haider said that the case against Nawaz started on the basis of Panama but ended up on Iqama because no evidence of any kind of wrongdoing in public office was found against Nawaz but Iqama was used to oust him to ‘damage Pakistan’.
The AJK premier said that Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) are suffering because of India’s oppression.
He said that governments in Pakistan since 1947 have followed the same Kashmir policy and have always taken up the issue of Kashmir in the right manner advocating theright of self-determination for the people of Kashmir.
“We are meeting European parliamentarians and think-tanks for a week to inform them about the heinous crimes India is committing. There’s evidence that India is involved in crimes against humanity,” he said.
Farooq said that Nawaz remains popular in thecountry due to his vast support base and his disqualification has made him more popular because the whole legal fraternity of Pakistan as well as international community is of the same view that he has been punished to settle political scores.
Farooq said that Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification has weakened Pakistan’s case at the international level because it has given an impression that a popularly elected leader can be thrown out through courts in a "political chess game".
He said its obvious that Nawaz was disqualified in hurry and is now being victimised through a media slandering campaign and witch-hunt through National Accountability courts.