Imran's PTI ends boycott of National Assembly over Panamagate

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf party has ended its boycott of the National Assembly after failing to win a verdict from the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the Panamagate issue.
After presiding over a meeting of the party office- bearers and parliamentarians, the PTI chairman announced that the party has decided to end its boycott of the assembly in order to seek an explanation from Prime Minister Sharif for allegedly making a false statement about his foreign properties on the floor of the house.
The 64-year-old cricketer-turned-politician said his party would move an adjournment motion as well as a privilege motion against the prime minister for his act of "lying to the parliament and the nation".

The PTI announcement came hours after submission of a privilege motion by the main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) against the prime minister over the same issue.
According to the Panama Papers, three of Sharif's four children - Maryam, Hasan and Hussain were owners of offshore companies and "were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies."
Sharif and his family have dismissed the allegations of money laundering and denied any wrongdoing.

The PTI chief had in October announced the boycott of the National Assembly till a decision of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

Last week, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of the case till the first week of January. Despite severe criticism from within and outside the PTI, Khan remained stuck to his decision and the party also boycotted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's address to a joint session of parliament last month.
Khan said the PTI would decide its next strategy after seeing the response of parliament to the two motions the party planned to move in the National Assembly.
He claimed that Sharif had made different statements in the Supreme Court and in parliament. In parliament, he added, the prime minister had stated that he had all the required documents to prove trail of the money used for purchasing properties in London, but in the court his lawyers failed to produce any document.

He said that in the past whenever he brought people on roads he was accused of inviting martial law. However, he said, if he again decided to take to the streets, the people would not accuse him of inviting the army.
He said he was disappointed with the apex court as he wanted a day-to-day hearing of the Panama Papers case. However, he said the PTI would wait for a final outcome of the case in the court.