Opposition leaders reject PM's speech, walkout from National Assembly
ISLAMABAD: The opposition walked out of the National Assembly after Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah rejected the prime minister’s speech and said that it has created more confusion rather than solving any issue.
The leaders of opposition parties then addressed a press conference outside the parliament and explained their viewpoint before the people through media.
The leader of opposition said, "We asked seven innocent questions and wanted similar replies, but the prime minister's speech made these seven into 70."
While talking to media, Shah repeated that prime minister's speech consisted of such details which were not even part of the seven questions asked by the opposition.
"We thought Nawaz would simply offer explanation about offshore firms and his London flats, but we were again made to hear stories about Jeddah and Dubai," Shah criticised.
Therefore, the opposition walked out of the parliament since “we did not wish to waste the nation's time by resorting to useless speeches”, as the best judge of Nawaz's speech are the people of Pakistan, Shah said.
PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said, “Nawaz Sharif deliberately ignored the question about the ownership of the flats in London and the money used to purchase the said property.”
PTI chairman Imran Khan said, “Nawaz Sharif did not need to deliver such a long speech and could have simply showed the documents regarding the possession of the offshore company.”
Showing some documents to media, Imran claimed “the first flat was bought in 1993, the second and third were bought in 1995, the fourth was bought in 1996 and fifth in 2004”.
Responding to the prime minister’s claim that he was not directly named in Panama papers, Imran showed Nawaz's tax returns claiming that “The papers say PM's daughter Maryam Nawaz is dependant on him, and the 'dependant' owns two offshore firms.”
"How can a dependant own such huge amount of money to buy offshore firms, as Maryam owns two. This means it was Nawaz's money," maintained Imran.
The opposition leaders then announced to meet at 10am on Tuesday to discuss the future strategy.