ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday called upon parliamentary parties to reach a consensus on the government proposed terms of reference (ToR) for investigation into the Panama leaks within a week. Failing which, the council suggested, the Supreme Court should convert suo motu the federal government’s letter into a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and proceed.

A special meeting of the PBC convened to take stock of the Panama leaks controversy suggested the Supreme Court finally settle the issue of ToRs. It asked the apex court to take a decision if political parties were agreed on the government proposed ToRs.

Attended by 12 members and presided over by PBC Vice Chairman Farogh Naseem, the meeting discussed at length the Panama leaks scandal as well as the April 22 federal government letter to Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali for the formation of a judicial commission under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956.

The council was unanimous that the Panama leaks had damaged the prestige of the country and, therefore, it was imperative that the issue should be resolved in the larger public interest.

The meeting believed that the commission so suggested has the powers under the Civil Procedure Code and can bind any person against whom investigation is being conducted to seek complete details from offshore companies and accounts.

The meeting concluded that it was the call of the ‘nation’ that the Supreme Court should interfere by taking cognisance.

It is the fundamental right of every citizen of Pakistan covered under Articles 8, 9, 10A, 14 and 17 of the Constitution to have confidence that they are governed by a prime minister who is not bogged down with allegations of financial corruption of the magnitude which is recently displayed through the Panama leaks, the PBC resolution emphasised.

The PBC believes in stringent accountability of bureaucrats (both civil and military) and so also of judges and lawyers and other segments of society, it said, requesting the Supreme Judicial Council to get itself activated as well as the disciplinary committees of the Pakistan and Provincial Bar Councils and their Tribunals.

The council believes in transpare­ncy, good governance and accountabi­lity, at all levels of the government and at the same time is of firm view that no accountability can contribute to derailment of democracy or the dem­ocratic process, the resolution said.

In fact accountability and transparency are necessary concomitants to the rule of law and the democratic process. With proper accountability, democracy in its essence can be achieved by the country, emphasised the resolution.

Referring to the government-proposed ToRs, the resolution says it does not fulfil the requirement of the inquiry act since the attempt to launch an inquiry against involvement of Pakistani citizens in Paragraph (2 a) of the present ToRs, was not in consonance with Section 3(1) of the 1956 Act.

Tangling all the citizens of Pakistan named in the Panama leaks is an unfortunate attempt to delay the proposed inquiry or investigation so that the matter is lost in the annals of history, the resolution said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016