Panama Papers issue continues to affect politics

PESHAWAR: Stung by the announcement by the Khyber Pakkhtunkhwa government spokesman Shah Farman that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had ended its alliance in the provincial assembly with the Qaumi Watan Party, the latter has called an emergency meeting of its central and provincial executive committees here today to discuss the issue.

Shah Farman, who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and is also provincial minister for Public Health Engineering, said at a news conference that his party had decided to end its alliance with the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly as it didn’t support the PTI on the Panama Papers leaks issue. “We cannot keep our alliance with the QWP intact just for making it a shareholder in power,” he remarked.

The statement prompted the stakeholders in the PTI-led coalition government to hold urgent consultations. Mohammad Tariq Khan, the QWP spokesman, told The News that their central and provincial executives would meet today in Peshawar under the chairmanship of Aftab Sherpao to review the situation and take policy decisions.

Tariq Khan said the PTI was unhappy with the QWP for not agreeing to its proposal to move a resolution in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “When the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) presented its report, the PTI wanted to move this resolution in the provincial assembly. However, the QWP stand was that we should wait for the Supreme Court verdict instead of moving the resolution against the elected Prime Minister prematurely,” he recalled. He added that the QWP had taken independent decisions in the past as well as it was an ally of the PTI in the province only.

The PTI and QWP, which is headed by former interior minister and two-time chief minister Aftab Sherpao, have been uneasy allies. Once earlier also in October 2013, the QWP was forced to quit the PTI-led government in the province when Imran Khan directed his party’s chief minister Pervez Khattak to sack two QWP ministers – Bakhat Baidar and Ibrar Hussain Tanoli – on corruption charges. The third QWP minister, Sikandar Hayat Sherpao, resigned in solidarity with his two sacked colleagues and effectively ended his party’s coalition with the PTI.

The corruption charges were never highlighted or proved. Twenty months, the two parties felt the need again to become allies. In October 2015, the QWP rejoined the PTI-led coalition government after making a deal.

 This time though, a four-member liaison committee was set up to serve as a forum for resolving disputes and issues. It included Jehangir Tareen and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak from the PTI side and Sikandar Hayat Sherpao and Anisazeb Tahirkheli representing the QWP. It remains to be seen if the latest dispute between the two parties would be referred to this liaison committee or their
fragile alliance would be broken once more.