Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the 12-member parliamentary committee set up to draft consensus terms of reference (ToRs) for investigation into Panama leaks ended in deadlock on Friday after both government and the opposition members refused to show any flexibility on their relevant positions.

Opposition members insisted on including the name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the ToRs while government representatives opposed it.

Talking to media after attending the meeting, Leader of the House in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said if government accepts 13 out of 15 points presented by the opposition, it may consider expunging the name of PM as well as points related to gifts received by him from Saudi Arabia. Otherwise, he said there would be no flexibility on 15 points they jointly framed and submitted before the parliamentary committee. He demanded that 15 questions of the opposition should be included in the ToRs as they were ‘fundamental’ for the inquiry. He said there was no rift within the joint opposition, saying, “We are united on the ToRs.”

Aitzaz said all the opposition parties were united on the point that investigation should start from prime minister’s family. “We want that details about property and taxes paid by the PM as well as his family be brought to the fore. The names of Maryam Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz are there in the Panama papers,” he said, and clarified that they never gave any proposal regarding exclusion of prime minister’s name from the ToRs. “Even if we exclude prime minister’s name from the ToRs, his name will still stay there as father of Hassan and Hussain Nawaz and the custodian of Maryam Nawaz,” he said. Opposition will not budge even an inch from its stance, he said, and added, “We stand by our stance that accountability process will start from the family of prime minister.”

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the opposition parties would not budge even a single inch from their stance. He said opposition wanted to hold discussion on the ToRs in ‘totality’ and not ‘piece meal’.

Qureshi said if government didn’t accept their ToRs, there will be no agreement. “Government wants that corruption remains shielded, but we will expose it. Opposition will not budge even an inch. All those whose names have appeared in Panama Papers will be held accountable,” he said.

The PTI leader said that responsibility for deadlock rested with the government. “We had agreed on four initial points but government is not demonstrating broadmindedness.,” he said.

The opposition also objected to Zahid Hamid’s participation in the meeting instead of Khawaja Asif, as his name was not included in the government team. His name was incorporated in the list later on and a notification to this effect has also been issued. There will be no ex-officio member of the committee.

The government side circulated its response to the opposition’s document titled “Government’s para-wise reply to joint opposition’s submission on ToRs dated May 26, 2016” in the meeting.

According to a press release issued after the meeting, the government members also circulated among the members a document mentioning legal provisions and comments relating to the 15 questions contained in the joint opposition’s ToRs.

The committee agreed to continue its discussion on the ToRs in its subsequent meetings.

The opposition side stated that “they had proposed to drop Question Nos. (xii) and (xiii) subject to the acceptance of the remaining thirteen questions by the government members.”

The 15 questions proposed by the opposition were discussed, and the government members did not accept them in the present form and proposed to submit re-articulated/fresh proposals, the statement added.

Senators Ishaq Dar, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Barrister Ali Saif, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, Zahid Hamid, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Anusha Rehman Khan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah and Ch Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as members of the committee.

The next meeting of the committee will be held on Monday at 4 pm in Committee Room No 5 of the Parliament House.