Panamagate: SC order will have huge impact on Indo-Pak ties, say experts
New Delhi: Security experts in India believe Pakistan's Supreme Court's order in Panamagate case will put a lot of pressure on the political establishment there and will have huge repercussions for India-Pakistan relations.
"The apex court has found Nawaz Sharif and his family dealing quite shady and have asked for a detailed investigation and is also ruled that he is disqualified to hold the office of the Prime Minister. He has been given 60 days time to step down. This creates a serious issue as far as civil military relations in Pakistan are concerned. Nawaz Sharif who has already a weak Prime Minister as further has been weakened further and I think this will again put lot of pressure on political establishment and has huge repercussions for India-Pakistan relations," Security Expert Alok Bansal told ANI.
He also asserted that this has weakened his position very badly.
"It will weaken the political establishment extraordinarily and it will further strengthen the military establishment because the Prime Minister who had one the public support has been indicted by the court and as a result his position has been weakened very badly, he would have no strength to stand up to military and so he will become a bigger stooge of the military which he had become for some time now," he added.
Meanwhile, another security expert S.K. Chatterji said this development will put the Pakistani Prime Minister under very much pressure or rather keep him under pressure since he is not being cleared.
"Panama Paper leaks indicated that money was used by four companies in which his three children- two sons and one daughter were the beneficiaries and buying some premium properties in London and other parts of UK. As far as judgment is concerned it's a mixed judgment. It does not clear the Pakistani Prime Minister but it goes on to say that there is not enough evidence and the Supreme Court has asked for joint investigation team including various agencies. So, it will put the Pakistani Prime Minister very much under pressure or rather keep him under pressure since he is not being cleared," said Chatterji.
The apex court by a verdict of 3-2 ordered the formation of a Joint Investigation Committee (JIT) to probe whether Sharif and his family is guilty of amassing illegal wealth abroad.
The military has ruled Pakistan for much of its history since 1947 and historic distrust has always strained relations between the two branches of power - the civil and the military.
The Panama Papers, which refer to a massive trove of secret documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca - which specialised in helping the global elite stash wealth in offshore tax havens - had said that the Prime Minister's children Maryam, Hasan and Hussain Nawaz "were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several [offshore] companies".
At least eight offshore companies were found to have links to the Sharif family in the documents that were leaked following which the case was filed by various petitioners - PTI chief Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed - seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Sharif over his alleged misstatement in his address to the nation on April 5 and his speech before the National Assembly on May 16, 2016, reports The Dawn.
The petitioners claimed that the Prime Minister lied about the investments made by his children in offshore companies, which led to the acquisition of four apartments in London's upscale Park Lane neighbourhood.
