PM Nawaz no longer focus of Panama probe

Parliamentary body agrees on preamble of TORs

Opposition drops two out of its 15 points

The 12-member parliamentary committee comprising members of the government and opposition have agreed on a four-point preamble for the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the judicial committee to probe the Panama Papers allegations.

The parliamentary committee held its second in-camera meeting on Thursday. The meeting continued for three hours at the Parliament House.

“The opposition circulated another document titled `Joint Opposition’s submission on TORs’ among the members of the committee, to which comments of the government side will be furnished in the next meeting,” said a press release.

The committee in principle agreed on the preamble of the TORs of the inquiry commission.

“However, differences on the wording of the TORs remain and will be discussed in subsequent meetings,” it added.

Meanwhile, in a brief talk with reporters after the meeting, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the opposition’s had dropped two points out of its 15-point TORs.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi later said the government wanted to remove the prime minister’s name from the TORs, and that they had acquiesced.

Finance Minister Dar said there was an agreement on the initial framework of the TORs. In the next phase, detailed discussion will be held on them, he said.

To a question regarding conflict over Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid’s inclusion in the committee, Dar said the Law Minister has been included as an ex officio member. He cannot cast his vote in the committee. If the opposition has any objections, the government will look into the matter.

Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the meeting was held in a pleasant environment with the understanding that no one could move forward without dialogue, whether it was the government or the opposition.

“We have to move forward with consensus instead of any ambiguity,” he said and made it clear that there was no deadlock in negotiations.

He said those who own offshore companies will be included in the scope of the investigation.

Saad said the Supreme Court had not rejected the government TORs, rather it had its own point of view and said that the government “will move forward in its light”.

He said there was agreement that the TORs should not be any personality-specific and expressed confidence that the democracy would emerge victorious.

The minister said the government was ever-ready to hold dialogue on the TORs.

Saad said there should be no violation of any law, adding that legal action should be taken against anyone found violating the law.

‘OPEN HEART AND MIND’:

Earlier, Leader of Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said the opposition parties were participating in the parliamentary committee meeting with an open heart and mind.

He said there was consensus on four points of the initial framework of TORs and second phase of the draft would be finalised on Friday.

Aitzaz said the opposition parties had offered the government to withdraw two points, out of the 15 they submitted before the committee.

“We have asked the government to include as many of their points as they want after our 13 questions. We will have no objection over it,” he remarked.

CLEAR AND RESULT ORIENTED TORS:

Senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the opposition’s 15 questions were not meaningless.

He said the opposition parties had reservation over the government’s TORs and those had been conveyed in the meeting.

“We will not compromise on the basic issues. Ambiguity in TORs is not acceptable,” he said.

He said point-to-point discussion had been initiated on the TORs, adding that the committee wanted to make the inquiry on Panama Papers result-oriented.

Qureshi said the government side was of the view that personalities should not be targeted in the TORs, and “We agreed”.

Senators Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Muhammad Ali Saif and Ilyas Ahmad Bilour; and Members of the National Assembly Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Anusha Rehman Khan Advocate, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah and Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as members of the committee.

Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid also attended the meeting as ex-officio member of the committee.

The committee will meet again on Friday at 11:00 am.