QUETTA: Terming the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case historic, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri said the ruling was in fact the result of the prayers of 200 million people.

“Today’s victory is the victory of truth; the Supreme Court has verified that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is truthful and honest,” Mr Zehri said.

Speaking at a rally held by the PML-N workers and supporters on Thursday to express solidarity with Prime Minister Sharif after the announcement of the judgement, the chief minister said that the top court’s decision had proved that all allegations of opposition parties against the PM were baseless and wrong.

Provincial ministers, PML-N members of provincial assembly, leaders of other political parties and a large number of party workers and supporters took part in the procession which passed through various roads and streets of the provincial capital. The chief minister himself led the procession.

Nawab Zehri said the family of the prime minister believed firmly in the law of the land and the Constitution and would extend full cooperation to the Joint Investigation Team to be set up in the wake of the court’s ruling.

He said that as the general elections of 2018 were approaching, the masses should be given the chance to decide as to who was right and who was wrong.

“Our opponents staged sit-ins and approached the Supreme Court but all their tactics failed and all their documents/papers relating to the case proved to be a pack of lies,” the chief minister claimed.

He advised the opposition to change what he called its negative attitude for the larger interest of the country. Otherwise, he said, they would lose the upcoming elections with a big margin.

“The PML-N would emerge victorious in upcoming elections and will form governments in the centre and provinces,” the chief minister predicted.

Nawab Zehri said that the prime minister was endeavouring hard for the development of the entire country, particularly for the progress of Balochistan, and the CPEC was a project that would ensure prosperity in Balochistan as well as the country.

“Now prosperity has become the fate of the people of Balochistan and owing to historical development activities throughout the country, opponents were finding it hard to digest these facts,” Nawab Zehri said, adding that under the leadership of Mr Sharif, Pakistan would become an ‘Asian tiger’.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2017