Prime minister’s name not removed from ToRs, joint opposition claims

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf spokesperson Naeem ul Haq said that the joint opposition had not agreed to remove the prime minister’s name from the terms of reference (ToRs) of the Panama leaks judicial commission.

His statement came as the government and joint opposition met on Friday to discuss the ToRs that will form the proposed judicial commission to investigate allegations of Pakistanis holding offshore assets named in the Panama Papers.

“Shah Mehmood Qureshi had denied the statement earlier too. He will further clarify his statement today,” he said.

The PTI spokesperson was responding to news circulating in the media which claimed that the joint opposition had agreed to remove the prime minister’s name from the ToRs in a meeting held on Thursday.

Endorsing PTI’s statement, Pakistan People’s Party leader Aitezaz Ahsan said that the joint opposition was still firm on investigating the prime minister’s family. “We have mentioned his children Maryam Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz in the ToRs. Their investigation automatically leads to the prime minister,” he said.

“We had offered to remove Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ToRs if the government wishes to do so. If our ToRs are not accepted, we will take back the offer,” he said.

A meeting of the committee members is underway.  It is expected that the members will agree on a clause-by-clause review of the ToRs. The committee agreed in principle yesterday on the preamble of the ToRs.   

A 12-member parliamentary committee is in consultation to form the ToRs. Six members from each side are consulting each other to finalise ToRs that will move forward the process of investigating several Pakistanis who have been named in the Panama Papers for allegedly evading taxes through offshore accounts.

The government replaced Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique with Law Minister Zahid Hamid today. Senator Hasil Bazinjo, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Akram Khan Durrani and Anusha Rahman in the committee.

Six members from the joint opposition include Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ilyas Bilour, Barrister Saifullah, Tariqullah and Tariq Bashir Cheema.