LAHORE - The Supreme Court cannot set up a judicial commission nor decide its terms of reference (ToRs) under the 1956 Act, says former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui.

Talking to The Nation yesterday, he said it was the prerogative of the federal government to constitute any commission under this law, frame its ToRs and set a timeline for it to come up with its recommendations.

The former CJP said this when his attention was invited to a letter the government has sent to the apex court for the formation of a commission and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s assertion during an interaction with journalists at the Governor’s House on Saturday that the SC was empowered to change the ToRs worked out by the government.

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali is scheduled to resume his duties on Monday (today) and the entire nation is waiting for the decision he takes on the letter sent by the government.

On Monday, opposition parties are also meeting at the Islamabad residence of a senior PPP leader to discuss the ToRs and decide their future course of action.

Political observers say that it would be an important day for the country as both the judiciary and the opposition parties will be taking up the same issue from their respective platforms. Their decisions would affect the politics of the ruling party as well as opposition.

Justice Siddiqui said sending a letter to the apex court was an ill-advised decision by the government.

He said once the government has decided the ToRs, the Supreme Court can’t change them. But if the government wants to change the ToRs it had decided earlier, it would have to send another letter informing the court about the changes it brought about in them. The second letter would supersede the earlier one, he said.

“The offshore companies revealed through the Panama Papers have nothing to do with Pakistan and cannot be investigated here. They are regulated by the countries they have been set up in. If any irregularity has been committed, it is in those countries, not Pakistan”.

The only aspect of the matter relevant to Pakistan is whether the money sent abroad was through legal means.

If the money was legal and sent through legal means, anybody can set up an offshore company anywhere, said Justice Siddiqui. Meanwhile, the opposition parties meeting in Islamabad today is expected to shape up new political alignments.

It would the first time that the PPP would be sharing the table with the PTI and the Jamaat-i-Islami.

The PTI and the Jamaat are allies in KP but they have nothing in common with the PPP. Until recently, the PPP and the PTI have been fiercely criticising each other.

The PML-Q, the ANP, Awami Muslim League of Sheikh Rashid and Muttahida Qaumi Movement are also among the invitees.  Ruling party sources allege that hidden hands are bringing parties of different ideologies closer. They are saying this when political leadership is no longer claiming that they are at the same page with the military leadership. (The question of civil-military relationship was asked at the Governor’s House’s interaction, but the prime minister parried the same). The ruling PML-N is being supported by the JUI-F, PKMAP, National Party and PM-F.