ISLAMABAD: The much-awaited grand meeting of opposition parties on Monday ended without any categorical announcement about their future strategy over the Panama leaks scandal due to differences among them.

During the more than three-hour-long meeting, held at the residence of PPP stalwart Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, the leaders of nine opposition parties also failed to finalise a consensus draft of the terms of reference (ToRs) which they want to present before the government for the already announced judicial commission to be headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to investigate the Panama Papers leaks.

Sources told Dawn that the two main opposition parties — the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf — failed to muster support of other opposition parties for their demand for the prime minister’s resignation.

The heads of the two parties — Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari — have publicly asked the prime minister to step down over the Panama scandal till the completion of investigations against his family over charges of setting up offshore companies through “money laundering and tax evasion”.

The sources said the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP) opposed the demand for the prime minister’s resignation, terming it “premature”.


Committee meets today to discuss terms for Panama leaks inquiry commission


According to the sources, three different drafts of the ToRs were presented in the meeting for discussion, but the participants found them “too complicated and technical” and rejected them with a suggestion to simplify them. Besides the PPP and the PTI, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) had also come up with its own draft of the ToRs.

One of the opposition leaders told Dawn that the drafts were too complicated as they had been prepared by lawyers like Aitzaz Ahsan and Hamid Khan.

The sources said PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Aftab Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) suggested that a new short draft with simple language be prepared.

The parties then decided to form a committee to finalise the agreed draft of ToRs.

When contacted, MQM’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui confirmed that the participants had failed to reach a consensus on the draft of ToRs as those presented were “too technical”.

On the issue of the demand for the prime minister’s resignation, Mr Siddiqui said the MQM had a clear stance from day one that under the Constitution, it was not binding upon the prime minister to tender resignation merely on the basis of charges.

However, he said, the MQM believed that the prime minister should resign on “moral grounds”.

Briefing reporters after meeting, PPP’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira said the committee would meet on Tuesday morning to finalise the ToRs.

Flanked by Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PTI and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League (AML), Mr Kaira said, without elaborating, the opposition parties unanimously believed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had failed to fulfil his “moral responsibilities” after the Panama Papers leaks.

He said the opposition parties had rejected the ToRs announced by the government, adding that they wanted an across-the-board accountability of all those whose names had appeared in the Panama Papers, but the process should start from the prime minister and his family because he was the chief executive of the country.

Mr Kaira said the Panama commission should be constituted through legislation in consultation with opposition parties.

The opposition leaders evaded repeatedly asked questions about the demand for the prime minister’s resignation.

It is for the first time since the 2013 general elections that all major opposition parties, despite having differences with each other on a number of issues, have gathered on a single platform to adopt a united strategy against the ruling PML-N.

The meeting was attended Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen, Asad Umar and Shireen Mazari of the PTI, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Kunwar Naveed Jamil and Mian Ateeq Sheikh of the MQM, PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Mian Iftikhar and Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the ANP, Aftab Sherpao and Aneesazeb Tahirkheli of the QWP, Sirajul Haq and Mian Tariqullah of JI, Israrullah Zehri of the Balochistan National Party (Awami) and Sheikh Rashid.

Earlier in the day, the PPP’s parliamentary committee, formed to coordinate with other political parties for a united strategy on the Panama leaks, called on PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at the Zardari House.

Aitzaz Ahsan and Syed Khursheed Shah briefed the PPP chairman on the progress in coordination and consultation with political parties and finalised the party’s stance to be adopted at the meeting of the opposition parties on the issue of ToRs for the Panama commission.

Sources in the party told Dawn that the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the party’s strategy, particularly on the issue of the demand for the prime minister’s resignation.

The PPP leaders, who had earlier rejected the PTI’s call for the prime minister’s resignation, found themselves in a state of confusion when Mr Bhutto-Zardari in his Saturday’s speech at a public meeting in Azad Kashmir asked the prime minister to step down to face the inquiry.

According to an official handout issued by the PPP’s media cell, the party chairman directed the committee to consult all political parties represented in parliament and adopt a united strategy on the Panama Papers leaks. He said a consensus among opposition parties was essential for the ToRs which must be decided by parliament. He also sought a report as soon as a consensus strategy was evolved.

The meeting was attended by Naveed Qamar, Aijaz Jakhrani, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla and PPP vice president Sherry Rehman.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd , 2016

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