PM Sharif's family can be summoned if stance on London flats contradicted:PakSC

Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan. 5 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday said that family members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can be summoned if they contradict their stance regarding the London flats owned by them. "If Sharif family contradicts previous interviews regarding London flats, the top court can summon them," the Express Tribune quoted Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as saying. Justice Khosa is heading a five-judge bench of the apex court hearing afresh a slew of petitions seeking Prime Minister Sharif's disqualification in the backdrop of the Panama Papers revelations. The statement came after Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Naeem Bukhari referred to interviews of Prime Minister Sharif and his children to establish their contradictory stance on London properties. However, Justice Khosa observed that if anyone denies their media statements then they'll have to record statements. While, another judge on the bench, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, warned the PTI lawyer, "If you start hanging people on the basis of news clippings then your client [Imran] will not survive either." Justice Khosa pointed out that the Prime Minister never stated that London properties are owned by his son, Hussain Nawaz. Likewise, during interviews Hussain referred to the luxury apartments in London as "our flats" and not "my flats". The top court has sought a timeline of the public offices Prime Minister Sharif has held during his entire political career in order to determine possible conflict of interests in overseeing his family business and officiating official responsibilities. "Do we have any document or declaration which could establish that the PM disassociated from family business in the 1990s," Justice Khosa asked. (ANI)