Pakistan

Govt offers opposition fresh talks on ToRs

Dar urges Shah to facilitate resumption of dialogue

Obaid Abbasi August 17, 2016

Dar urges Shah to facilitate resumption of dialogue. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough, the government on Tuesday offered the opposition to pick up the thread of negotiations over the terms of reference (ToRs) for the proposed commission to investigate the Panama Papers.

The move came amid mounting challenges faced by the PM. The most recent is the army’s rebuke for its failure to implement NAP that the military considers necessary to consolidate the gains made in Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the PTI’s street agitation.

Govt has to accept opposition's ToRs, says Shah

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met Opposition Leader Syed Khurshid Shah in his chamber and offered to play the role of an intermediary between the two sides. Both the leaders underscored the need for an uninterrupted dialogue over the ToRs.

Earlier, the talks had faltered because the opposition insisted on first holding the prime minister accountable while the government refused.

The meeting between the finance minister and the opposition leader that lasted for over half-an-hour discussed issues related to the ToRs.

Khurshid Shah told the media that Senator Aitzaz Ahsan has summoned a meeting of opposition parties on Wednesday (today) .

“Opposition parties will sit together on Wednesday and decide the future course of action,” Shah said.

Dar said the government had informed Speaker Ayaz Sadiq through a letter last month that the 12-member committee on the ToRs would meet on August 9. “But due to the deadly blast in Quetta the meeting could not be held.”

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Dar said enacting a new law is the need of the hour to make the inquiry process into offshore companies more effective and comprehensive. “There is a need to achieve a consensus on the draft law so that it could be tabled in parliament as soon as possible.”

“Formulating the draft to investigate offshore companies is the most urgent task and it will be introduced in parliament as soon as a consensus is achieved with the opposition,” Dar told the media after the meeting.

He said past inquiries were conducted under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1956. But, he said, “The CJP had declared the act as toothless. Therefore, the government has decided to bring in a new law.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2016.