ISLAMABAD: Following the deadlock in the parliamentary committee on terms of reference for a commission to probe Panama Papers allegations, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership held a meeting in Bani Gala here on Wednesday to chart out its future course of action.

Under a strategy different from the one it had adopted on the eve of its 2014 sit-in, this time the party decided to put pressure on the government by joining hands with other like-minded political forces, senior PTI leaders who attended the meeting told Dawn.

“As long as other political parties, including the major opposition PPP, look at the Panamagate issue the way PTI does, we are ready to join hands with them for a mass movement against the government,” PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haq said.

He said consultations with other opposition parties had already been started over mobilising the masses against the ruling PML-N after Eidul Fitr.

Replying to a question, Mr Haq said it did not matter who led the initiative as long as the target was to bring to book all people who had looted public money and stashed it in foreign banks.

The meeting, according to him, decided to continue efforts for a maximum consensus among the opposition parties on Panamagate and against the government.

When asked, he said so far the PPP had taken an unequivocal stand against the prime minister and his three children for owning offshore companies, hence, “the PTI has no issue in joining hands with it for a joint anti-corruption and anti-government movement”.

In the meeting, according to a press release, the PTI leadership decided to support the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)’s June 17 sit-in on Mall Road in Lahore. To express solidarity with the slain workers of the PAT, Mr Haq said, Lahore-based PTI leaders will attend the rally.

The meeting unanimously decided to remove Shahid Hussain as head of the party’s overseas international chapters (OIC). A committee comprising Jahangir Tareen, Amir Kiani and Dr Arif Alvi was set up to prepare recommendations for the new OIC set up.

LEGAL NOTICE: Meanwhile PTI chief whip in the National Assembly Dr Shireen Mazari has sent a legal notice to federal minister Khawaja Asif, asking him to pay Rs100 million in damages for passing sexist and derogatory remarks against her.

She has demanded that the minister offer a public apology and retract his statement, categorically admitting that he was wrong.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2016