Opposition members of Parliamentary Committee seek time till Tuesday for consultations; fifth meeting ends in deadlock; Saad Rafiq denies deadlock; says TORs must not
be person-specific, Aitzaz says govt attitude is not serious; Qureshi says govt
opposed to Sharif family’s accountability
ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday presented four more ToRs during the fifth meeting of the Parliamentary Committee constituted to frame ToRs for the judicial commission to probe into the PanamaLeaks.
The meeting, however, ended in deadlock, with the opposition sticking to its demands.
The opposition members of the committee sought time till Tuesday to consult among themselves and with their leadership on the four ToRs presented by the government.
Following the meeting, PTI Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi told newsmen that there was no change and the deadlock still persisted.
Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq claimed that there was no deadlock, as efforts were on to develop a consensus.
“It has been our stance from day one that the TORs must not be person-specific,” he told newsmen after attending the meeting at the Parliament House.
As the government and opposition failed to break the deadlock, the deadline of two weeks given in the National Assembly resolution for the formation of a Parliamentary Committee to formulate the ToRs will expire on Tuesday.
Sensing the situation, the two sides discussed legal options to extend the deadline in order to come out with consensus ToRs.
Before the Parliamentary Committee meeting, the Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq convened a consultative meeting in a bid to break the deadlock.
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah and the Parliamentary Committee members attended the meeting.
During the Parliamentary Committee meeting, the government side circulated among the members reformulated ToRs with reference to the previous papers circulated by them which correlated with the ToRs proposed by the joint opposition.
Qureshi told newsmen that the government did not want the Sharif family to be held accountable.
“The situation within the Parliamentary Committee has not changed,” he added.
He said only reaching an agreement on the TORs would be insignificant, as legislation was needed to deal with the issue.
Qureshi said the opposition members would talk to the government side on Tuesday after consulting with other opposition parties on Monday.
“The future line of action depends on the government’s response to our reply to their ToRs which they had presented in today’s meeting,” he said.
Saad Rafiq said the government members were not mentally prepared for the fifth round of talks due to the recent surgery of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London.
To a question, he said it was part of Pakistani politics that the opposition parties always took a stiff stance on every issue. The joint opposition members of the Parliamentary Committee also held a meeting in which it was decided to show no flexibility on the issue.
Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Opposition Leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said he did not see an end to the deadlock.
“We are attending the Parliamentary Committee meetings with an open mind but the government attitude is not serious,” he said.
To a question about Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s criticism of the PPP, Aitzaz Ahsan said there was no need to take his statements seriously.
Senators Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Muhammad Ali Saif and Ilyas Ahmad Bilour and MNAs Zahid Hamid, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ms. Anusha Rehman Khan, Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariqullah and Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as the committee members.