Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition on Monday staged walkout from both National Assembly and Senate in protest against absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to explain his position on the Panama leaks.

The opposition in both houses demanded debate in parliament over Panama leaks and called for the prime minister to come to clarify his position in the aftermath of Panama leaks.

Opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah told the Lower House that they will continue boycott of the National Assembly proceedings until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears and takes the House into confidence over the Panama investigation.

Opposition leader in Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan also said that the prime minister should come to parliament and remove the confusion about his offshore assets. He said that they would observe protest on daily basis till the prime minister appears in the House. Aitzaz said opposition parties will continue boycott of the Upper House until prime minister takes part in the proceedings. He urged the prime minister to submit details of his assets and taxes paid in the Senate. “The whole nation is in a state of confusion due to the prevailing circumstances,” he said, adding that prime minister was trying to avoid parliament to conceal the facts.

Leader of Opposition in NA Khurshid Shah demanded that the opposition believed in democracy and supremacy of parliament. He claimed that the ToRs proposed by the opposition were not prime minister-specific, rather would be equally applicable to all those named in Panama Papers.

He said that the prime minister was likely to fall victim to the ill-advised strategy he had chosen to pursue over a sincere advice by the opposition parties to bring the Panama issue to the floor of parliament. “The PM started visiting various parts of the country and addressing public meetings to plead not guilty in the wake of the political storm caused by the leaks,” he said, wondering why the prime minister was not ready to take parliament into confidence even after having requested the Supreme Court to form a judicial commission to probe the matter. The opposition sincerely wanted the issue to be settled in a democratic way but the PM seemed not satisfied and was at the risk of repeating the mistake of the past.

Reminding the prime minister that public support and show of strength could do nothing to protect him from being unseated in the present circumstances, Shah said, “We have not asked the prime minister to step down; the ToRs laid down by the opposition parties for the judicial commission on Panama revelations just urge him to explain his position on the floor of parliament.”

Supporting the opposition leader, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the prime minister should give his stance in the National Assembly and clarify his position on Panama leaks rather than making speeches out of assembly. “We do not want any fight, but unless the PM takes opposition into confidence on ToRs for investigation into Panama Papers, we would boycott the assembly,” he said.

Qureshi said the government and the opposition should sit together to discuss ToRs for the proposed commission to inquire into allegations leveled in Panama Papers. He said when the PTI was holding a sit-in, the PML-N always advised that parliament was the right forum but today the government adopted other channels like holding public rallies and a state-sponsored advertisement campaign in support of the prime minister. He also criticized the PM’s address in which he said there was no difference between terrorists and agitators and claimed that the opposition parties including the PTI supported the government in campaign against terrorists, passage of laws and many more. He requested the PM to never equate the opposition with terrorists.

PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz pointed out that immediately after release of Panama Papers, the prime minister volunteered himself and his family for accountability. He said the opposition did not expect that the government would go for a commission of Supreme Court judges but the government opted for that to come clear on charges leveled by the opposition. He said ToRs of the government were more comprehensive than those of the opposition. He said opposition had failed to come out with constructive criticism of the ToRs framed by the government.