Govt, opposition talks on ToRs hit deadlock

Govt rejects opposition’s 15-point ToRs; suggests fresh proposals; opposition says existing concessions to be taken back if govt rejects its demands; accountability should begin from PM’s family

ISLAMABAD: The gulf between the government and opposition on the issue of terms of reference (ToRs) for probing the PanamaLeaks further widened on Friday as the meeting of the parliamentary committee ended in a deadlock with the government rejecting the opposition’s 15-point ToRs and the opposition insisting that accountability should start from the prime minister and his family.

The government, while rejecting the opposition ToRs, proposed to submit fresh proposals. However, the opposition insisted that there will be no compromise on their 15-point ToRs. It also said the existing concessions will also be taken back if the opposition’s demands were not accepted.

In a press talk after the meeting, Opposition Leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan and deputy parliamentary leader of the PTI in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed that there was a deadlock between them and the government. “The government is responsible for the deadlock in talks,” Aitzaz asserted.

He said that no investigation can take place until the joint opposition’s ToRs are considered. He said the joint opposition had not withdrawn Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ToRs. “We have included the names of Maryam Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz in our ToRs,” he said.

He said the prime minister should face accountability as the guardian of his children who have featured in the Panama Papers. “We are convinced that  accountability should begin from Nawaz Sharif’s family,” he said.

Aitzaz said the opposition had presented its 15 questions in Friday’s meeting, but the government side did not agree to it completely. “Our ToRs are comprehensive and we will stick to our 15 questions,” he said. He dismissed an impression of differences among the opposition parties, saying that “we all are united and will not succumb to pressure.”

“Today’s talks did not move forward even an inch as the government had refused to accept any of the proposed ToRs by the joint opposition,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. He said the opposition was firm on its core questions and would not step back from any of its proposed ToRs at any cost.

He said the opposition had offered the government to add any clause or point that they wished to the list of ToRs but they will not back down from their own proposed issues that need to be investigated. “The government rejected our 15 points. If they reject our proposals, we will consider the four-point preamble null and void too,” Shah Mehmood said.

The opposition had already proposed to the government to drop question Nos. (xii) and (xiii) from its ToRs subject to the acceptance of the remaining 13 questions by the government members.

The two questions that the opposition offered to drop from its ToRs relate to disclosure of stay of the Sharif family in Jeddah during the Musharraf regime and gifts as well asJeddah that belonged to the state of Pakistan and were liable to be deposited in the state exchequer?

The government says it has submitted para-wise response to the oppositions demands. The government members did not accept the opposition’s 15 demands and proposed to submit re-articulated/fresh proposals.

Zahid Hamid has been included as member of the parliamentary committee on Panama Papers in place of Khawaja Muhammad Asif. It was decided that there will be no ex-officio member of the parliamentary committee.

Senators 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, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariqullah and Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as members of the committee.