ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) is in utter disturbance over the role of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) being part of the joint opposition on the Panama Leaks.

The senior party leadership is in distress over the contradictory statements of at least two PPP leaders, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, as the former has taken a strict stance against the government on Panama Leaks and the latter speaks opposite to his party colleague, a senior PTI leader said.

Khursheed Shah’s latest statement on Panama Leaks has sent a wave of confusion among PTI’s that whether PPP, the major opposition party in the National Assembly, would stand by it on the issue or it just wanted to get benefit of the situation, he added.

In a latest statement given to a TV channel on Saturday, Khursheed Shah said that the protest sit-ins of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) held in 2014 against the PML-N government on allegations of election rigging were both ‘scripted’ and these caused damage to the democracy and the country. He also said that PPP would not go to an extent in its protest movement against the government on Panama Papers that would provide opportunity to the third force to intervene.

Intentionally or unintentionally, the statement of the Leader of the Opposition in NA came at a time when Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took notice of a video statement of Dr Asim Hussain, a close aide to PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, he gave while in the custody of a law enforcement agency in which he alleged allegations of corruption against his party leadership. Nisar in a statement said that release of video of under investigation accused was illegal and immoral and the Sindh government was being written to probe the matter.

While Aitzaz Ahsan’s bashing on government with regard to allegations of having offshore wealth of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family continues, Khursheed Shah keeps blowing hold on cold on the same issue.

Analysts believe that the latest remarks of Khurshid Shah would give a breathing space to the government and would be detrimental to the protest movement of the opposition parties at a time when they are gearing up to start a movement against the PML-N government after Eid.

The parliamentary committee mandated to form TORs for the proposed judicial commission to investigate the alleged offshore wealth of Pakistanis, including PM’s family, has already failed to have any consensus on the TORs.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan recently said that his party would take to street to start a mass protest movement after Eid. In his efforts to bring more protestors on raids, Imran Khan Saturday met some disgruntled party MPs of his party and assured them to address their grievances. Soon after the statement of Imran Khan, PPP had questioned how PTI chief could announce to start a movement without consulting other opposition parties that have united on the Panama Papers.

However, PTI this time unlike its previous practice had decided in a party meeting that it would not take a solo flight to start a protest movement calling for the accountability of Sharif family. For this purpose, party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi was tasked to meet all the political parties and bring them on a single platform.

“We will take along the opposition to the last in the parliament and at every forum as well on the issue of Panama Leaks. But if any party including PPP does not want to side with us then our destination is clear,” said Iftikhar Durrani, head of the PTI’s Central Media Department while commenting of Khursheed Shah’s statement. He said that people had much more expectations from PTI and the whole country would see how PTI would start its movement after July 20.

Syed Khursheed Shah a couple of days ago had said his party could take to streets if the government failed to resolve the Panama Leaks issue. He said that PPP did not like politics of roads, however, the party could take to streets if the matter was not resolved in the parliament. The government must accept opposition’s ToRs, he had added.

The parliamentary committee on ToRs in its last meeting on June 14 had failed to develop any consensus as he talks between the government and joint opposition had collapsed. Even the committee did not decide the timing of the next meeting as opposition said that the government was not serious to resolve the matter and this committee was of no use.

The joint opposition has now said that it would make public on Monday the overall progress of the committee and share the proposed draft ToRs of both sides to take the public into confidence. The opposition is united on one point that the accountability should start from the PM’s family and divided over the inclusion of PM’s name in ToRs.