Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaj Sharif on Thursday got immediate relief in Panamagate when the Supreme Court ordered a time-bound probe into the case. As soon Nawaj got the breather, his daughter Mariam Nawaz Sharif took to Twitter to express her delight.
Mariam tweeted: Mubarik ! Wazir-e-Azam Nawaz Sharif ..... Alhamdolillahi Rab-al-Aalameen
She tweeted pictures of celebrations in her next tweet that read: "Praise & glory be to Allah alone. Shukrana & mubariks>"
Her third tweet said: "Celebrations" with photos of herself, her uncle Shahbaz Sharif and father Nawaz Sharif in a celebration mood.
Pakistan's apex court bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, was a divided house after it met to decide the fate of Nawaj Sharif and his family members in the Panama Papers case. While three judges were of the opinion that further investigation is needed in the case, two were for disqualifying the Prime Minister.
As per the Supreme Court order, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) will be formed in a week and Sharif and his sons will have to appear before it.
Additional director of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency will lead the JIT, which is directed to submit its report in 60 days.
Sharif and his children were linked to illegal offshore wealth in the Panama Papers leak. While the opposition parties are vying for Nawaz's head, the Prime Minister's supporters have been rallying behind him.
Nawaz's staunch political opponent Imran Khan was present in the court when the verdict was announced.
He has already announced that whatever may be the verdict in the case, his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will launch a movement for the next general elections.
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.
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.
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