ISLAMABAD, JUN 11 (DNA) – The joint investigation team (JIT) investigating the Panamagate case has issued a summons to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to appear before the team on June 15, officials in the government told on Sunday on the condition of anonymity.

Sources within the government said that the summons was issued to the PM on Saturday after he returned from his international trip to Kazakhstan, where he had been attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Sharif, who is currently in Lahore, met with his close confidantes on Sunday morning to discuss the issue. After consulting with his aides, the prime minister has decided to honour the summons and appear before the JIT on Thursday.

Punjab PPP President Qamar Zaman Kaira, in a press statement, said that the summoning of the PM before the JIT is a positive sign.

“The prime minister has a central role in the Panama case,” Kaira noted from Lahore.

“The JIT is going to ask important questions from the PM.”

Expressing concern regarding the hearing, the PPP Punjab president said, “I hope that this time nothing similar to what the PML-N did with the Supreme Court in the past will happen again.”

“We expect that the PML-N will not resort to any extreme tactics during the JIT hearing. The last time Nawaz Sharif presented himself to the Supreme Court it [the court] was attacked,” Kaira noted.

“No one should think of making provocations. If you are truthful then present yourself in earnest to the JIT.”

Expressing his dismay at the recent spike in outbursts against the investigators, Kaira added that people should refrain from subjecting the team to abuses.

“Some individuals from the PML-N are humiliating institutions; they should refrain from using such language,” the PPP stalwart added.=DNA

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