Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Khurshid Shah, on Wednesday told the national assembly that dust had not yet settled over the Panama leaks issue as it was just the beginning.

He was addressing the session a day after opposition called off its boycott of the Senate and the National Assembly. He also said that the opposition formed a questionnaire to aid the solution of the issue and not complicate it.

Shah said that the Parliament could solve issues that sit-ins and protests failed to do. However he said, the opposition had a lot of reservations over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech that he delivered in the National Assembly on Monday.

Shah reminded the House that the opposition had intentionally not indulged in calling anyone a thief or going back to politics of the ‘90s, as such remarks only weaken the democratic government and benefit other ‘interests’. He did not specify which ‘interests’ he was referring to.

“We were told that money was taken abroad in 1972, when Ittefaq Foundry was being privatised, and was invested in a new venture named Gulf Steel,” Shah added. He questioned the source of the money transferred abroad, as the premier had earlier stated that they had lost everything when privatisation took hold during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s government.

“If you had nothing at that time, and your name was not in the list of Pakistan’s 22 richest families, then should we not question how you obtained and transferred the funds,” asked the leader of the opposition.

Shah stated that Gulf Steel’s mention was made for the first time during the prime minister’s address earlier this week. Bringing the discussion back to the documents presented by the premier earlier this week, Shah questioned the tax paid by 12 companies, owned by the Sharif family. “In 23 years, 12 companies owned by you paid only Rs1 billion in tax?”

The opposition had listened to the Prime Minister’s explanations on Monday very carefully, he added. He cleared that the opposition could not demonstrate a walkout over his instructions but it could do so over the Prime Minister’s avoidance of addressing the real issue.

Nawaz Sharif paid around Rs 0.6 million income tax in as many as 14 years, Shah said. The leader of the Opposition further said that the government gave confusing and contradictory statements over offshore companies of the premier’s sons.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, paid Rs 4400 tax a year after founding the country. How come Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid Rs 2,700 in 1993, he questioned. The countrymen’s money should be spent for their betterment, he added.

In 1994 you (Nawaz Sharif) paid Rs 2,000 in tax, in 1995 you paid no taxes and in 1997 you paid Rs 50,000 in tax, said Shah. “Officially an MNA paid around Rs50,000 in tax.”

Khursheed Shah emphasised that the matter needs to be resolved, in order to protect democratic institutions in the country. “It is in everyone’s interest to strengthen the Parliament through accountability for everyone,” he maintained.

He reminded Nawaz that it was his obligation to safeguard every penny of the people’s money. “The Supreme Court has seconded what we have said. We said, let’s sit down, make the ToRs together, give the SC power through an amendment to solve this issue,” added the leader of the opposition. In response of Khurshid Shah’s and Imran Khan’s speeches, the Federal Defence Minister Khuwaja Asif said that if taxpayers’ money should not be misused so shall charity for Shaukat Khanum Hospital. The hospital that Imran Khan owns did not publish its balance sheets for three years, he said. He said that Shaukat Khanum’s issue did not erupt but was developed by Khan himself. He criticised the PTI chief saying that those who he abused during the sit-in at D-Chowk included Khurshid Shah who now stands with him.

The family of the Prime Minister was running welfare organisations as well but does not make it public, the Defence Minister said. Asif pointed out that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government was not allotting the ministry pieces of land for two grid stations. The federal minister denounced Imran Khan’s explanation regarding his offshore company that was established in the 1980s.