ISLAMABAD: After the first session of the twelve-member Terms of references (TORs) committee leaders of the joint opposition held a press briefing and told that an agreement has been reached on four preambles for probing plan into the Panama Papers leaks.
Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan briefed the media that out of the fifteen questions the opposition has dropped two questions because the Chief Justice of Pakistan said that it will take years to answer all the questions as too many people are included in the details of those questions. He said that there had been no compromise, but “for the sake of achieving progress in negotiations and to make the process more conducive for investigation and justice, now there are thirteen clauses to be further pursued”. He also said that debate will continue in the next session clause by clause and a detailed framework will be drafted to properly state the TORs needed to address the issue of allegations brought up by Panama Papers.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi also spoke on the matter and said that even though two questions have been dropped no compromise has been made on the core issues. He said, “We invite the government to bring up any clauses or points that they wish to include or discuss. We won’t shy away from it but debate on them too”. He added that for a law has been broken for every question that the joint opposition has asked. Hence there is no possibility of ignoring the core points. “We have not compromise on the core issues and will not compromise on them in the future either,” he added.
Members of the government also came forward to confirm progress in negotiations. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also confirmed the agreement on four preambles. Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique also said that there had been no deadlock in the discussions and the process is likely to move forward smoothly.
