ISLAMABAD: There are few things that both the government and opposition agree on. So when the parliamentary committee assigned to formulate terms of reference (ToR) for the proposed Panama Papers Commission met for the sixth time on Tuesday, all they could agree on was that they should meet again on Friday.

The main sticking-point is still the question of whether to begin the probe from the prime minister’s children, and if the post-meeting remarks from both sides are anything to go by, the in camera deliberations are “back to square one”.

The government, sources privy to the meetings say, insists on formulating a ToR that is generic, whereas the nine-party opposition bloc believes that the whole exercise will be futile if the prime minister and his family are not investigated first and foremost.

Saad Rafique challenges PTI to take to the streets, says govt won’t let PM be targeted

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique — who represents the government on the 12-member committee, said: “The opposition’s entire argument revolves around one person; the prime minister. We cannot allow them to destabilise the country like that.”

Known for his aggression and no-holds-barred demeanour, Mr Rafique attempted to call the PTI’s bluff when he said: “We know one of the opposition parties is planning to come out on the roads. We are ready to face them, but we cannot let them defame Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.”

He added that similar attempts were made in the past, under the guise of accountability, to target politicians. But he maintained that history would not repeat. “The prime minister has repeatedly said that his children are ready to face investigations and that should be enough for the opposition,” he concluded.

One of the committee members told Dawn the opposition had reviewed its ToR and was willing to accept the government’s demand of formulating a permanent law to check cases of money-laundering, kickbacks, commissions and loan-write offs.

Similarly, the opposition has no problem extending scope of the probe, the participant said. However, “the opposition has refused to forgo its demand of a time-specific investigation into the offshore companies owned by two sons and a daughter of the prime minister,” the source said.

Speaking to reporters alongside the railways minister, Law Minister Zahid Hamid said a misperception had been created about an amendment to the income tax law, which actually was an explanation included in the Finance Bill.

Mr Hamid said that if the opposition didn’t agree with it, the government had no issues deleting that amendment. The measure, he said, was part of initiatives the government had taken to become part of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development.

On his way out of the committee meeting, PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan said the opposition believed the situation was at a standstill and that the ball was in the government’s court now. “The government has refused to accept our amendments to the ToR, and has sought time until Friday to respond.”

The official communiqué, issued after the meeting, said that the opposition members had circulated a document titled “Terms of Reference (as proposed by the government and amended by the opposition)”.

“During the discussion, government members pointed out that there was substantial difference between the ToR circulated by the government earlier and the ToR circulated by the opposition today,” it read. 

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2016