Parliamentary body: ToRs committee expected this week

Tight deadline for panel to complete its task

ISLAMABAD: With the parliamentary committee for working out the terms of reference (ToRs) for probing the Panama Papers likely to be notified this week, key questions remain about how the government and the opposition will thrash out new terms within a fortnight and whether the opposition can keep its unity intact within the stipulated time.

Last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced on the floor of the National Assembly that a joint parliamentary panel, with equal representation from government and opposition parties, should thrash out ToRs through consensus for a probe into the Panamagate scandal.



Thousands of documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca had revealed that the world’s wealthy and powerful, including three scions of Nawaz among 220 Pakistanis, had secreted their wealth in offshore holdings in international tax havens. It had prompted calls from the opposition for a wide ranging probe over possible laundering, starting from the family of the prime minister.

After the premier announced that a 12-member parliamentary panel should thrash out working terms, members of the opposition in the National Assembly gave Speaker Ayaz Sadiq a list of names of their representatives. The list of opposition members in the Senate is expected to be submitted today (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday).

The six-man opposition team is likely to include Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Tariq Bashir Cheema, MQM’s Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah. Sadiq said the government has finalised its names for the committee but has yet to submit the same. The committee is likely to be announced on Wednesday (May 25).



Fortnight to decide

By far the toughest challenge for the panel will be to finalise the ToRs within a short time since some quarters have hinted at allowing only 15 days for  the task. Recently, the legal fraternity passed a resolution giving the panel just two-weeks to formulate the ToRs.

This timeframe has also been echoed by the PTI. Sources in the party told The Express Tribune that PTI will wait for 15 days once the committee starts functioning. If the deadline is missed, it would devise a strategy to pressure the government.

Fitting MQM in

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which first quit and the rejoined the nine-party opposition alliance, had approached the government seeking representation on its panel.

However, the move was rejected by the opposition, particularly the PTI. Subsequently, they have been adjusted in the opposition’s panel.

Staying united

MQM’s inclusion has heightened the possibility of differences developing within the opposition.

So far, the opposition has been seen as united on an inquiry into the Panama Papers, but the differences have flashed from time to time.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2016.