- PTI’s Qureshi says not a single inch of movement in talks, says if govt doesn’t accept their 15 TORs, the preamble will also stand rejected
- PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan says never talked of removing PM’s name from inquiry
- Govt submits answer to opposition party’s document; Zahid Hamid replaces Khawaja Asif on the govt committee
Deadlock has emerged between the government and opposition parties over the preparation of Terms of Reference (TORs) to investigate the Panama Leaks.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed the deadlock and said the government team has refused to accept the TORs of the opposition.
Aitzaz Ahsan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, talking informally to media, said the name of the prime minister has not been removed but an offer was made that if the government team accepts all the TORs of the joint opposition, Nawaz Sharif’s name as prime minister could be removed but his name would remain in the TORs as father of Hussain Nawaz.
Aitzaz denied differences among the joint opposition over the exclusion of the name of the prime minister.
“The opposition stands by its demand of accountability from the prime minister and his family,” the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker said.
“The name of the prime minister becomes part of the probe owing to the investigation from his children Maryam and Hussain, which is why the opposition has not dropped its demand of the accountability of the premier,” Aitzaz Ahsan said.
He said the government team has been asked to give counter proposals to the opposition’s which they would give on Monday.
PTI’s Qureshi said there was not a single inch of movement in talks on Friday and the joint opposition did not back down from its principled stand. He reiterated that if there was progress, it would be on the totality of the joint opposition’s TORs and not piecemeal.
He further said that if the 15 TORs of the opposition were not accepted, the preamble agreed on Thursday should also be considered as rejected. He said the opposition will not come under pressure. He said it was responsibility of the government team to remove the deadlock.
According to reports, the joint opposition insisted on the acceptance of all the TORs of the opposition but the government team rejected the demand.
The joint opposition had entered into negotiations with the government with a primary demand that any investigations into the Panama Papers scandal should start from the premier and his family who have been named in the trove of leaked documents about offshore companies formed in international tax havens.
The financial scandal has lately seen the government and the opposition, mainly the PTI, organise mass rallies to garner public support for their respective stances.
Meanwhile a press release by the National Assembly said the Parliamentary Committee on Panama Papers continued discussion on the TORS proposed by the government and the opposition.
The government’s committee members’ response to the opposition members’ document titled “Government’s Para-wise reply to Joint Opposition’s submission on TORs dated May 26, 2016” was circulated by the government side among the members of the committee. The government side also circulated among the members a document mentioning relevant legal provisions/comments relating to the 15 questions contained in the joint opposition’s TORs. The committee agreed to continue its discussion on the TORs in subsequent meetings.
The opposition members said that they had proposed to drop questions (xii) and (xiii) subject to the acceptance of the remaining 13 questions by the government members.
The government members discussed the 15 questions proposed by the joint opposition but did not accept them in current form and proposed to submit re-articulated/fresh proposals.
Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid has been included as member of the Parliamentary Committee in place of Minister for Defence and Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif. There will be no ex-officio member of the committee.
Senators Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Muhammad Ali Saif and Ilyas Ahmad Bilour; and Members of the National Assembly Zahid Hamid, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Anusha Rehman Khan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah and Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as members of the committee.
The next meeting of the committee will be held on Monday May 30, at 4:00 pm in Committee Room No. 5, Parliament House, Islamabad.
