SCBA, PPPP resolve to form commission under special law

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) on Wednesday resolved to form a powerful commission on the Panama Leaks under a special law or ordinance instead of under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1956.

The Panama Leaks rocked the globe as how the powerful and wealthy use tax havens to hide their wealth with disclosure of Pakistani politicians and businessmen owning offshore companies abroad.

Both the SCBA and PPPP are on the same page in opposing the recently announced Terms of Reference (ToRs) for a judicial commission to probe the sensational Panama papers leaks. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPPP along with Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Saeed Ghani and Syed Naveed Qamar on Wednesday met the SCBA President Barrister Syed Ali Zafar to reach a consensus to work together on the issue. 

Later, talking to the reporters in the Supreme Court after the meeting, SCBA President Barrister Syed Ali Zafar said that they are united on the rule of law with an objective to unearth the facts behind Panama Leaks and for the purpose the SCBA has drafted ToRs. The SCBA is ready to improve the ToRs in accordance with the law, Ali Zafar said. 

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that the SCBA and the PPPP has reached a consensus that a commission on the Panama Leaks should be formed under a special law or ordinance instead of under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1956 because only a powerful commission could probe the issue. He said that Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif’s reputation is in question due to the Panama Leaks, so the Sharif family should be probed ahead of other individuals named in the Panama Papers.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, while opposing the Terms of Reference (TORs) draft of the government, said that his party was the first one to demand the formation of the commission under the chief justice of Pakistan to probe the matter.  

He said that they have talked to the registrar of the apex court on the formation of the commission, saying the court has no objection to the formation of the commission, but the PPPP has convened a joint opposition meeting on May 2 to devise the future course of action in the matter.

Earlier on April 6, the SCBA had offered its services for conducting an inquiry in the sensational leaks by the Panama Papers that entangled the Sharif family among 140 world leaders. Rejecting the formation of a judicial and inquiry commission, Barrister Ali Zafar told the Supreme Court reporters that both the judicial and inquiry commission that may be constituted by the incumbent government is not acceptable to them adding the judiciary should not be involved in this matter.

It will be a lengthy process and will not even be an independent commission as well, Ali Zafar said, adding that the Panama Leaks that entangled the Sharif family is a public interest matter and it needs an independent commission that could probe the matter with an open mind and independently.

The SCBA president had offered the government its platform to probe the matter with condition of two mandates. He said that they should be mandated with the task of 15 days for giving its findings, and the second-most important condition was to mandate the SCBA to publish its findings.

The SCBA president said that the commission if constituted by the prime minister itself will be meaningless and will not be an independent commission.

Barrister Ali Zafar had claimed that if they were assigned the task of probing this burning issue involving the family of a sitting prime minister, the SCBA could constitute a committee of high calibre of lawyers, but it should be time bound meaning that it should be mandated to give its findings within 15 days and more importantly, its finding should be made public as well. He had told reporters that only the Supreme Court Bar Association, an independent body, could probe the burning issue and unearth the facts for the public at large.