ISLAMABAD: Deadlock persists between government and opposition over the Terms of Reference (ToRs) that would form a judicial commission to probe offshore companies by Pakistanis named in the Panama Papers.
Government and opposition members met today to form the ToRs. The committee will meet again on Tuesday at 3 PM.
Speaking to the media after the session Pakistan People's Party stalwart Aitezaz Ahsan said that the session seemed like a mere formality. "The deadlock on the ToRs persists," he said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that there was no point in sitting through the sessions. "The government is not interested in probing the Panama Leaks. I will advise other parliamentarians to boycott the session too."
In their meeting it was decided that a joint opposition session would be called in the next two days, a source said.
Opposition had hinted earlier that it would continue participating in the parliamentary committee only if the government came out with the positive response.
In the last meeting, the opposition registered a strong protest on government’s move to provide legal cover to undeclared wealth held through foreign trusts by Pakistani individuals.
It is to be mentioned that in the Finance Bill 2016-17, amendments were proposed to Clause 23 of the Income Tax Ordinance that would provide legal cover to undeclared wealth held through foreign trusts by Pakistani individuals.
The opposition had registered its reservation on proposed amendments to the clause 23 during the proceedings of the committee. The opposition cast a shadow on the government intentions stating that at one hand they were participating to draft the ToRs, on the other hand, the government was giving clean chit to the family of the prime minister by making amendments to the Income Tax laws in the Finance Act, 2016.
“If the government managed to get approval from the National Assembly of its proposed amendment to the Income Tax law, the family of the prime minister would automatically get a clean chit that would legalise their offshore business and the Parliamentary Committee’s task would remain purposeless.
However, according to the sources, if the government did not make a positive response to the opposition today, the opposition would withdraw from the parliamentary Committee. In the sixth meeting held last Tuesday, the opposition members circulated a document titled “Terms of Reference (as proposed by the government and amended by the opposition)”.
During the discussion, the government members pointed out a substantial difference between the ToRs circulated by the government and the ones circulated by the opposition. The government members suggested that an opportunity might be given to review the document circulated by the opposition and consult among themselves and they would respond on Friday.