ISLAMABAD: A split Senate committee on Tuesday referred the controversial Panama Papers inquiry bill to Chairman Raza Rabbani for a final ruling over the matter following a heated discussion between government and opposition members.

Amid protests by the opposition, Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice Chairman Javed Abbasi used his casting vote to decide the matter after a 4-4 tie.

Protesting the chairman’s decision, opposition members, led by Leader of the Oppo­sition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, started raising anti-government slogans and later staged a sit-in at the entrance to Parliament House, accusing the government of trying to evade accountability.

Law minister says SC hearings render bill outdated; draft law sent to Senate chairman for final ruling after MQM member sides with govt

Apart from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), senators from the Awami Nati­onal Party (ANP), Balochis­tan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid also took part in the protest.

The balance tilted in the government’s favour when Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, the lone committee member from the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), sided with the ruling party in the committee.

The committee had invited all 38 movers of the bill, but no one from the PTI attended the meeting.

Later, the MQM senator told Dawn that even he was not in favour of referring the matter to the Senate chairman, but had no option when the chairman put the question before the committee.

Barrister Saif said that since it was a serious legal matter, all parties should avoid politicking on the issue. He alleged that the PPP had brought all its members to the committee just to “make noise”.

He was of the view that instead of inviting all the movers, the bill should have been considered by the committee members themselves.

Government members seemed in no mood to discuss the bill and during committee proceedings, treasury senators, one after the other, made one excuse or the other to get the bill rejected or deferred for some more time.

At the outset, when the committee chairman did not see Aitzaz Ahsan in the room, he suggested that the meeting be postponed for two weeks. However, Mr Ahsan entered the room a few minutes later, forcing the chairman and treasury members to start discussion.

Members from both sides engaged in a heated debate after both Mr Abbasi and Law Minister Zahid Hamid declared that the bill had become outdated after the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court.

The minister said the PTI had submitted the same bill to the SC when the court had asked the petitioners and the respondents to submit their suggestions for terms of reference (ToR). There­fore, he said, the bill was directly under SC review, which had begun the accountability process which the opposition had been clamouring for. “Let the SC complete its investigation,” he added.

The committee chairman said that in its bill, the opposition had called for the constitution of a three-member inquiry commission, whereas five judges of the SC were currently hearing the Panamagate petitions.

Opposition members, however, were of the view that parliament could not be deprived of its right to carry out legislation, even if a matter was pending before any court.

Mr Ahsan said the committee was not discussing court proceedings, but PML-N Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq termed the bill discriminatory, saying the opposition wanted only accountability for the prime minister.

Veteran PPP leader Taj Haider said the SC had also declared that the accountability process would start from the prime minister and his family members and asked the government to pass the opposition bill to convey that the country’s parliament was functional.

The atmosphere became tenser when the law minister objected to the opposition’s move to make amendments to the draft law. When Mr Ahsan said that besides offshore companies mentioned in the Panama Papers, they wanted to include all offshore companies.

Quoting from the rules, the minister said that two day’s prior notice was required for the submission of amendments, so that the government had time to review them.

The ‘Panama Papers Inquiries Act 2016’ was introduced by the opposition in the Senate on September 26 after it managed to defeat the government by a margin of 13 votes.

The 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 the other Pakistanis named in the Panama Papers.

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

The National Assembly’s Law and Justice Committee has already approved the government-sponsored Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill 2016 in the absence of the members of PPP and PTI members.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2016