Islamabad July 23 (TNS): The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the reply submitted by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Nehal Hashmi regarding his fiery speech threatening members of the Joint Investigation Team probing the Sharif family. The court announced to indict Hashmi on July 10.
When a three-member bench headed by Ejaz Afzal Khan took up the suo motu case for hearing, Hashmi’s counsel Hashmat Habib appeared before the court and said that his client has gone to perform Umrah and he could not appear in the court in person. The court expressed its displeasure over the reply and observed that he (Hashmi) has left the country without informing the court in writing. The court is seized with an important case against the senator but he is absent.
The court while giving a one-day exemption for senator from personal appearance told his counsel that his client should ensure to turn up in the court each time until the hearing is wound up.
The court announced that Hashmi will be indicted (formally charge-sheeted) on July 10 as the reply submitted by him was unsatisfactory and insufficient. Hashmi will face further court proceedings ultimately leading to his sentence that could be up to six years.
In the video that has gone viral on the social media and mainstream media, Nehal Hashmi could be seen indirectly threatening the judges and JIT members probing the Panama Papers of dire consequences once they retire from service.
“You are holding the son of the Nawaz Sharif accountable. We will teach you a lesson and lay siege to you once you retire and make you and your children an example for others,” Hashmi could be heard as saying while addressing a party function in Karachi marking Yaum-e-Takbeer. “Whosoever is taking accountability from us, will be held accountable,” Hashmi says in the video in an apparent reference to the judges and JIT members, who have been investigating the Sharif family. “Whosoever is conducting an investigation, listen, we never forgive, and take avenge of the excesses meted out to us.”
