A joint meeting has been called by the opposition parties to discuss their course-of-action, in case members are not permitted to speak after prime minister offers government’s policy statement over Panama leaks probe in the National Assembly on Monday.
Joint opposition against the government in Panama leaks issue will finalise strategy of protest if National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq denies the members permission to speak after government tables its statement.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be attending a session of the National Assembly after around two months today.
The government has asserted that the premier would answer opposition’s questions about his assets, present his stance after Panama Papers named his daughter and sons in April and offer policy statement over a probe in the assembly on Monday. The leaks mentioned Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Safdar and sons for owning offshore companies.
The parties came together to call for a probe by Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) and demanded off the government to write to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali to head a judicial commission that would be established.
The development came in after the Chief Justice of Pakistan turned down government’s TORs and stated that it was impossible to probe Panama leaks pertaining to premier’s family under the proposal.
Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali stated that it would take years to probe the leaks if government’s proposed TORs were acted upon for a probe.
Opposition parties including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami Muslim League (AML) convened several meetings earlier to discuss various issues relating to the leaks and a probe.
However, PTI leader Imran Khan admitted to government’s allegations last week and confessed that he had set up an offshore company in the 1980s and evaded British taxes. He revealed that an apartment was bought using the offshore company. But the chief of the opposition party claimed that nothing that he did was illegal.
Analysts are of the opinion that Imran Khan’s admittal has eased some of the pressure that was mounting on the government.
