ISLAMABAD: After the Supreme Court expressed its inability to constitute a commission to probe the Panamagate on Friday, opposition parties across the spectrum claimed that their stand stood vindicated.

They called upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to listen to their collective demand for formation of an independent commission through separate legislation as proposed in the terms of reference (ToR) framed by the nine-party opposition alliance.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf claimed that its argument that the inquiry commission proposed by the government made no sense had proved true. “The PTI has been saying that the commission set up under the 1956 law with one-sided ToR is useless and the same has been pinned down by the Supreme Court in its response,” the party’s spokesman Naeemul Haq said in a statement.

For a meaningful commission, he added, a ToR jointly formulated through consultation between the government and the opposition was a must.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is in Lahore to oversee the party’s reorganisation in Punjab, tweeted: “Yet another loss for the government. SC has rejected their ToR. Nowhere to hide now. GoP will have to sit with opposition & draft new ToR.”

Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, Leader of the Oppo­sition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah described the chief justice’s decision to return the government’s request for formation of the inquiry commission as an endorsement of opposition parties’ point of view.

He said parliament was now the only forum left for the PM to appear and ans­wer the opposition’s questions. He warned the PM that any delay in responding to questions would deepen the crisis.

However, it was former chief justice and head of his newly formed Justice and Democratic Party, retired Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who uncharacteristically came down hard on Prime Minister Sharif. In a statement quoted by news channels, he said it was already too late for the government and the best option at the moment for the prime minister was to resign and let an independent commission investigate allegations levelled against his family.

Sheikh Rashid of the Awami Muslim League said if the prime minister didn’t read the seriousness of the situation after the Supreme Court’s rejection of his request, “I can see a serious threat to democracy in case the prime minister continues with his stance that he has nothing to do with the Panama Papers leaks.”

Talking to journalists outside the Parliament House earlier in the day, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said opposition parties were waiting for the prime minister in parliament and ready to listen to his argument on the issue.

Accompanied by Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PTI, Senator Ahsan quipped, “We have heard the prime minister is rote learning the speech which he is set to deliver in the National Assembly.” Let’s see whether the PM addressed the seven questions raised by opposition parties, he added.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said the prime minister had not changed his plans after the SC response and would address the National Assembly on Monday.

Prime Minister Sharif will fly to Istanbul on Saturday to attend the wedding of the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2016