ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to introduce in the Senate a bill seeking the formation of a judicial commission on the Panama Papers leaks.

The announcement was made by Leader of Opposition in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and the party’s parliamentary leader Saeed Ghani at a news conference here on Tuesday.

Mr Ahsan said that the draft of the proposed law was being prepared and it would be made public after its approval by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and after consultation with other opposition parties.

The PPP leader said that the opposition knew that it did not have a majority in parliament, but it had decided to introduce the private member’s bill to put moral pressure on the government, which was reluctant to do the legislation despite the opposition’s demand.

Mr Ahsan said the opposition was in fact trying to facilitate the government and providing an opportunity to the prime minister to clear his name from the Panama Papers scandal.

However, he said, the prime minister was running away from accountability and wanted a powerless and ineffective judicial commission.

He said that a grand meeting of opposition parties would be held on July 19 to devise a future strategy on the issue.

Later, talking to Dawn, Saeed Ghani said the bill was being drafted keeping in view the terms of reference (ToR) prepared by opposition parties for the proposed judicial commission to hold investigation against over 400 Pakistanis whose names had appeared in the Panama Papers for having offshore companies.

He said the government wanted to constitute a toothless commission under the 1956 Act. He said that not only the opposition, but even the Supreme Court had rejected the government-proposed ToR and the suggestion to form the judicial commission under the 1956 Act.

Mr Ghani said the opposition wanted formation of the commission through legislation like the judicial commission it had formed some two years ago to hold investigation into charges of rigging in the 2013 general elections.

ECP members

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called on Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurs­heed Shah in the latter’s parliament house

chamber to discuss the issue of appointment of four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Mr Shah told the minister that he had already convened a meeting of parliamentary leaders of all opposition parties on Wednesday for consultation on the proposed names for appointment as members of the ECP.

Upon Mr Shah’s request, the finance minister agreed to have another meeting with him on Thursday.

Talking to reporters, both Mr Dar and Mr Shah expressed the hope that they would finalise the process of appointment of four ECP members within the constitutional timeframe.

During their telephonic conversation on July 4, the two leaders had agreed to “formally exchange” the proposed names for appointment of the four members of the ECP after July 11.

Four ECP members retired on June 12 and the law requires appointment of their successors within 45 days of their retirement. July 27 is the constitutional deadline for the appointment of new members of the commission.

The prime minister, in consultation with the opposition leader, is required to forward three names for appointment to each vacant post of the ECP to a parliamentary committee for confirmation of any one person.

In case there is no consensus between the prime minister and the opposition leader, they will forward separate lists to the committee for confirmation of any one individual.

This time the appointment of ECP members will be made under a new criteria approved by parliament that has done away with the restriction of them being retired judges.

In a related development, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs approved the Members of the ECP (Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges) Bill 2016.

The bill about salaries, allowances, perks and privileges of members of the ECP, as admissible for a judge of the high court, was tabled in the assembly by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmed in March amid criticism on the government for giving salary to ECP members without doing the required legislation.

The bill seeks to address an anomaly in the law which cropped up because the salary, perks and privileges of ECP members appointed under a new procedure mentioned in the 18th Amendment were not specified.

The amendment provided for appointment of retired judges of high courts as members of the ECP, but did not fix their salary. Prior to the amendment, sitting judges of high courts were appointed as members of the ECP.

The government had appointed four retired high court judges as members of the ECP in June, 2011 — 14 months after the passage of the 18th Amendment. The members kept on drawing their salary provisionally till the time of their retirement last month.

The members drew salary and perks equivalent to that of a sitting high court judge, which includes a salary of Rs5,27,270, a judicial allowance of Rs207,207 and a house rent of Rs65,000.

The bill was aimed at providing a legal cover to salaries drawn by sitting members as it would be deemed to have taken effect from June 13, 2011.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2016