ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq will make a significant effort on Tuesday to sway the government and opposition into resuming dialogue to formulate consensus Terms of Reference (ToRs) for a judicial probe into offshore companies identified in the Panama Papers disclosures or otherwise.
He has called the members of the bipartisan parliamentary committee of the two sides in his office to discuss recommencement of the talks. “Both parties have agreed to meet the speaker on Tuesday,” a credible source told The News. “It will be an uphill task for Ayaz Sadiq to persuade the two sides into restarting the negotiations when they have taken tough positions, insisting on their respective stands.”
A couple of weeks back, the government approached the speaker with the request to use his good offices to revive the parleys in the ambit of the parliamentary panel, which had been formed by him with the consent of the two sides.
The talks collapsed after eight rounds as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) representatives boycotted the committee saying that the government was not sincere to investigation into the offshore shells. However, other opposition parties including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party (ANP), Jamaat-e-Islami and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) do not buy the strategy of the PTI and PPP and want to resolve the issue in the framework of the parliamentary forum. They are of the view that a solution to the issue lies in talks and not on the streets.
There is a proposal being considered by the government to reach an agreement with these parties on the ToRs followed by sending a letter to the Supreme Court for constitution of the judicial commission for inquiry into the offshore companies.
While these four opposition parties wish to break the ice, the PTI and PPP are stubborn on their stand, emphasizing that the probe must focus on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family first, to be followed by investigation into other offshore shells. The government refuses to accept it.
The talks to be joined by the PTI and PPP nominees are likely to resume with the efforts of the speaker, but there are little or no prospects that the dialogue will see a breakthrough culminating in the finalization of the unanimous ToRs because of the reticence of these two parties. The government has no plan to bow before their demands.
While Ayaz Sadiq is working as an honest broker to bring the two sides on the negotiating table, both parties have preferred other options to take on each other. The PTI and PPP have filed references with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), urging disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his close family members.
The PML-N has not taken this move lightly and retaliated in the same coin by submitting a reference to the National Assembly speaker against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his senior associate Jehangir Tareen, leveling a multitude of allegations against them.
At the same time, the PTI is trying its old tactics of trying to mount pressure on the government through public protests. Sunday witnessed its first march and rally as part of its “accountability movement”. The protest was obviously a low key affair compared to its 2014 agitation. With the passage of time, the PTI has suffered dwindling public fortunes.
To respond to this protest, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter of the PML-N organized a public rally in Peshawar. It was mainly a show of senior party leader Amir Muqam. The choice of these means by the government and opposition beyond the platform of the parliamentary committee has whittled down the importance of seeking an agreement through dialogue and discussion. Imran Khan has declared that he will end his agitation forthwith if the consensus ToRs are prepared and a judicial commission is formed to investigate the offshore companies. But his condition is that these terms must be what his party insists on.
