ISLAMABAD: The opposition, which has been accusing the government of dragging its feet on the Panamagate issue, on Thursday itself sought deferment by a Senate committee of its bill seeking formation of the judicial commission to probe charges against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family regarding setting up of offshore companies through illegal means.

At the outset of a meeting, Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice chairman Javed Abbasi informed the members that he had received a request from Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan for the deferment of the bill as he [Mr Ahsan] was busy in connection with some case before the Supreme Court’s bench in Karachi.

The committee had invited all 44 opposition members who had signed the bill, but only three, including PPP’s parliamentary leader Taj Haider, were present in the meeting, showing the seriousness of the opposition about the matter. Not a single opposition member spoke on the bill when the chairman announced its deferment for an indefinite period, saying that he would announce the next date after consultations with the members.

The much-touted bill seems to effectively face a delay of about one month as Law Minister Zahid Hamid and some members of the committee informed the chairman that they would not be available for the meeting over the next two to three weeks owing to their other engagements.

Later, talking to reporters, Law Minister Zahid Hamid said that he had come with full preparations, but the opposition itself had sought deferment of the bill.

He said the bill moved by the opposition was completely “discriminatory” and aimed at targeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose name was not even mentioned in the Panama Papers. Moreover, the minister said, the bill had a limited scope and would not be helpful in preventing illegal practices in future. On the other hand, the government had already introduced a bill in the National Assembly after the Supreme Court declared the existing Inquiry Commission Act of 1956 as toothless.

Mr Hamid claimed that the government-proposed bill had made the inquiry commission more powerful.

The Senate committee meeting had been convened to take up the bill titled “Panama Papers Inquiries Act 2016” that had been introduced by the opposition in the Senate on Sept 26 after it managed to defeat the government in the voting by a margin of 13 votes.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had allowed Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan to introduce the bill on behalf of all opposition parties after a vote count in which 32 members voted in its favour and 19 against it.

When contacted, PPP’s Taj Haider dispelled the impression that there was any political motive behind deferment of the bill. He said that since the bill had been drafted by Mr Ahsan, they thought that he would be in a better position to explain salient features of the bill.

When reminded that there was no dearth of lawyers and experts in the PPP and in Senate in the form of former law minister Farooq Naek and Babar Awan, Farhatullah Babar and Saeed Ghani who could also explain the bill, Mr Haider said that since the opposition leader had a “stature” and he himself had sent the request, they thought it inappropriate to discuss the bill in his absence.

In reply to a question, he said the chairman of the committee had declared that he would convene the meeting again next week.

At the time of moving the bill in the Senate last month, Mr Ahsan said the opposition had decided to move the private members’ bill because it believed that the Panamagate scam could not be thoroughly investigated under the existing law. He claimed that their bill was not discriminatory or politically motivated as it sought investigations against all those Pakistanis whose names had appeared in the Panama Papers.

The opposition’s bill suggests a forensic audit of all the money sent abroad through secret channels. The bill binds the commission to first investigate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members before proceeding against other Pakistanis named in the Panama Papers.

However, the text avoids naming PM Sharif or his office, instead referring to: “the inquiry against a respondent, who publicly volunteers himself and his family for accountability or who publicly admits holding of offshore assets, along with his family, shall be completed and submitted in the first instance”.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2016