Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The federal government and the opposition on Wednesday agreed to constitute a 12-member parliamentary committee to draft a consensus terms of reference (ToRs) for an investigation commission that is supposed to probe the revelations made by the Panama Papers.

A meeting of parliamentary leaders of all the political parties held in the chamber of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq decided that both government and the opposition will name six legislators each to form the parliamentary committee. The meeting decided that a motion will be passed on Thursday (today) in the National Assembly to legalise the committee’s status. The members of the committee can be named from any of the houses of parliament and both government and the opposition will finalise the names today after consultation. The committee, that is to present its report in two weeks, will suggest measures to investigate allegations related to Panama leaks and develop a system which paves way to probe those involved in receiving kickbacks and illegal loan write-offs.

From the government side, Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Zahid Hamid are likely to be taken into the committee. Aitzaz Ahsan, Khurshid Shah, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Hamid Khan are also likely to be the part of the parliamentary committee.

Reliable sources told Daily Times that the PML-N has devised a plan to create differences between PPP and the PTI on the ToRs so that the parliamentary committee take at least one month instead of the stipulated two weeks to finalise its recommendations. The government will also try that PTI quits the committee itself.

It seems that the government has succeeded to some extent in cooling down the opposition on Panama scandal. The PTI has also got a hint of the backdoor contacts between PPP and the government and due to the very reason, Imran Khan during his speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday warned the government that if the PML-N would show any kind of slackness on the issue of Panama leaks, PTI would come out on the streets. The parliamentarians from PML-N look confused in the current scenario and believe that the situation could get out of control for the government if PTI takes to the streets.

A PML-N leader told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that the government has decided alienate PTI by stoking its difference with the PPP. He said that the government is in no mood to hold a serious investigation into the Panama leaks. “In this connection, the negotiation with PPP is almost complete,” he added.

He said that after formation of the committee, the ToRs proposed by the government and the PPP would almost be alike and proposals of the PTI would not be given much weightage. Resultantly, PTI will have to part ways and the matter of formation of ToRs would be delayed.

The ToRs are likely to include the revelations by Panama Papers, loan write-offs, audit of Shaukat Khanum Hospital, investment by PTI in Muscat and heavy expenditures in the elections.

The PTI has also started working on its future strategy and, according to sources, it may give call for public rallies immediately after the budget to exert pressure on the government.

However, National Assembly speaker is keen to resolve the issue amicably instead of a deadlock. The prime minister has reportedly assigned him an additional task of controlling the hawks in the federal cabinet.