Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday nominated six members for the parliamentary committee tasked with finalising Terms of Reference (TORs) to probe offshore companies, loans write offs and kickbacks etc.
In a letter addressed to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar said that in pursuance of the motions adopted by the National Assembly on May 19, and the Senate on May 20 on this subject, the prime minister has nominated six members from the treasury benches from both houses.
The names include Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Ports and Shipping Minister Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Minister for Housing and a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam MNA Akram Khan Durrani, Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and Minister for IT Anusha Rehman Khan.
While the opposition parties have not formally submitted their list of names to the Senate yet, they have already given the names to the National Assembly speaker.
The six names the opposition parties have announced include Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Tariq Bashir Cheema, MQM’s Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah.
NO SEAT FOR ZAHID HAMID:
While the opposition parties have named one person from each party to be part of the parliamentary committee, five members of the government’s team belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while one belongs to its ally, JUI-F. The government list is also surprising as it does not include the name of Law Minister Zahid Hamid who had been tipped to be a strong contender to be part of the committee.
Earlier, there was some drama on the inclusion of the MQM in the opposition’s committee as the opposition parties appeared to have doubts as to where the MQM stood on the Panama Leaks issue.
Last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced on the floor of the National Assembly that a joint parliamentary panel, with equal representation from government and opposition parties, should thrash out TORs through consensus for a probe into the Panamagate scandal.
‘TIME’S A WASTIN’:
Political observers believe that the toughest challenge for the panel will be to finalise the TORs within a short time since some quarters have hinted at allowing only 15 days for the task. Recently, the legal fraternity passed a resolution giving the panel just two-weeks to formulate the TORs.
This timeframe has also been echoed by the PTI. Sources in the party were quoted as saying that the PTI will wait for 15 days once the committee starts functioning. If the deadline is missed, it will devise a strategy to pressure the government.
THE PROBLEM WITH THE BIG TENT:
The MQM, which first quit and then rejoined the 9-party opposition alliance, had approached the government seeking representation on its panel.
However, the move was rejected by the opposition, particularly the PTI. Subsequently, they have been adjusted in the opposition’s panel.
MQM’s inclusion has heightened the possibility of differences developing within the opposition.
So far, the opposition has been seen as united on an enquiry into the Panama Papers, but the differences have surfaced from time to time.
Half of the work is done ( in favor of the Government) since half of the team is from PML(N) and includes Majhas like Saad Rafique. Remember how shamelessly he defended the Railways when the ARY TV anchor had reveled arms smuggling by Pakistan Railways ? Handing over matter like this to cmmittees and commissions is like gaining time followed by controversies and then forget it finally.
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