Joint opposition tries to reach consensus on ToRs today

ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition in parliament is divided on the TORs of inquiry commission to probe the offshore companies owned by the children of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, disclosed by the Panama Papers, and will try to reach a consensus in their meeting here today.

Sources told The News that the PPP and PTI are two major political parties that have their separate TORs and approach to deal with the PanamaLeaks issue. Apart from these two political parties, the rest of all small political parties have differences over the TORs.

The PTI wants that the proposed inquiry commission should start inquiry from the PM’s family and it should be restricted to the Sharif family. It also wants the commission to end its work within a specific time period.

On the other hand, the PPP is interested in a fresh legislation which should incorporate forensic audit of the accounts as mandatory. The ANP is of opinion that the fresh legislation will take time and the commission should start its work. The ANP supports the idea that the commission should not only investigate Sharif family, but also others.

Various parties in the joint opposition will gather and share their proposed TORs and ideas for probe into Panama leaks. Sources in these political parties told The News said that it would be an uphill task for the opposition parties to reach consensus on the TORs.

The TORs of two parties framed by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP and Hamid Khan of the PTI will be put before the leaderships of various political parties for consensus. According to sources there were broader chances of reaching consensus on one point; however, the ANP might slip away from the opposition's camp.

The opposition parties will also discuss formation of the commission which is pending with the chief justice. The chief justice will resume his official work from Monday (today) to contemplate the government's request for formation of commission.  The opposition parties might wait and see the CJ's decision in this regard before announcing their joint strategy on the TORs.