Pak leaders call for Imran Khan's resignation over Pandora Papers

The papers have revealed more than 700 names of those in Pak PM's Cabinet and inner circle

Opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz demanded the resignation of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after his name was highlighted in the Pandora Papers leaks.
 
“After Imran Khan's name surfaced in Pandora leaks, there is no moral justification for him to retain the post of the premier,” PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal Iqbal said.  The papers have revealed more than 700 names of those in the PM’s Cabinet and inner circle.
 
Pakistan’s several ministers, retired civilian and military officials, businessmen as well as owners of the top media outlets were named in the Pandora Papers following an investigation uncovering financial secrets held by high-profile individuals, prompting Prime Minister Imran Khan to promise to investigate all the citizens mentioned in the leaks.
 
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Sunday unveiled “Pandora Papers”, according to which Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi, Senator Faisal Vawda, the family of Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, among others, had links with offshore companies.
 
In addition to key members of Khan's Cabinet, retired civilian and military officials, businessmen as well as owners of the country's top media outlets have owned companies and trusts holding millions of dollars in offshore jurisdictions, according to The News newspaper.
 
The paper reported that probe named as the Pandora Papers showed that the retired military officials who owned offshore companies or properties include Lt Gen (retd) Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar's son, Major General (retd) Nusrat Naeem, Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool's son-in-law, Lt-Gen (retd) Tanvir Tahir's wife, Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Kuli Khan's sister, Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak's sons and retired army officer and politician Raja Nadir Pervez.

The media owners who held offshore companies include publisher of Jang group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, CEO Dawn media group Hamid Haroon, Publisher of Express Media Group Sultan Ahmed Lakhani, the Gourmet Group which also owns a TV channel GNN and publisher of Pakistan Today the late late Arif Nizami.
 
In a statement issued late on Sunday, Prime Minister Khan welcomed the Pandora Papers exposing the ill-gotten wealth of elites, accumulated through tax evasion and corruption and laundered out to financial ‘havens'.
 
"My government will investigate all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers and if any wrongdoing is established, we will take appropriate action. I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis,” he said.