A constructive move

Something bordering on an outbreak of common sense appears to have broken out in the opposition parties with their formulation of draft terms of reference (ToR) for the judicial commission to investigate the Panama Papers. This is a welcome move. The opposition has not insisted on the demand that the prime minister resign and so it should — the prime minister is innocent until proven otherwise and deserves the same treatment under law as any other person accused of anything. Thus far, there is nothing beyond a range of questions that the people of Pakistan would like answering, and the judicial commission is the chosen vehicle for that. The opposition wants the investigation to focus primarily on the prime minister and his extended family first — again as is right and proper.

The opposition’s ToRs also provide for a time frame for the commission to report — three months with a possible extension to four — something that was missing from the government’s ToRs. In addition, the opposition’s terms state that the commission is to be headed by the chief justice of Pakistan and it will be constituted by an act of parliament, in itself a rocky road given the government majority in the National Assembly. The ToRs also state that once the investigation into the ruling family is complete, the commission will move on to the other 200-odd Pakistanis named in the Panama Papers, a process that will last a year. The investigation will be historical and begin in 1985 when Nawaz Sharif was elected chief minister of Punjab for the first time.

Although this is by far the best way forward, the difficulties are immense. Not least among those is that there are checks and balances in the national and international banking systems that protect confidentiality, and are specifically designed to hide money trails. A range of international treaties that Pakistan is not a signatory to also hedge any attempt at forensic investigation; and a director of the State Bank of Pakistan in a recent statement to a Senate standing committee expressed his pessimism regarding a fruitful outcome to any inquiry. It is now to be seen how the government responds. The Panama papers are not going away, and the opposition looks in danger of actually getting itself organised. We await developments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2016.

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