ISLAMABAD: The government continued to face criticism for a second consecutive day on Friday in the National Assembly in the aftermath of the Panama Papers leak.

But as lawmakers from the opposition parties trained their guns on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children for stashing their wealth outside the country, ministers continued to defend their leader.

Opposition parties also closed ranks over their disapproval of the one-member commission — announced by the PM — that would investigate the information contained in the Panama Papers.

PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the gravity of the issue could be gauged from the fact that following the leaks, the Icelandic prime minister and the president of a Dutch bank had resigned, while investigations had been launched against the Argentine president. Other governments in Europe and India have also ordered high-level probes and, therefore, “the issue warrants similar wide-ranging inquiries in Pakistan as well.”

The government must understand, the PTI leader said, that apart from the PM’s family, there were also reports that over 200 Pakistanis owned companies in the international tax havens and their money trail should be thoroughly investigated.

Reiterating Imran Khan’s demand for a commission led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Mr Qureshi severely criticised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Election Comm­ission of Pakistan (ECP) for keeping quiet over the issue.

Then it was Shazia Marri of the PPP who threw brickbats at the government and the Sharif family. Picking on the courts, she said they were ever ready to take suo motu notice against the PPP government, but were paying no attention to an issue as serious as the Panama Papers leak.

“Throughout the PPP’s time in power, we had to respond to suo motu notices, so much so that our Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was sent home,” she said. But now, the government’s suggestion that the opposition should approach the apex court is a clear indication of the level of comfort with the courts.

Shazia Marri asks PM to step down; Sheikh Aftab terms Panama Papers conspiracy against CPEC

She was also the only one from the PPP who asked the PM, in so many words, to step down until forensic investigations were completed by a reputable international firm. “The commission that the prime minister has set up sounds like the commission that the present government is known for receiving in the form of kickbacks, not the top-level investigation needed in this case,” said Ms Marri.

From the government side, the response came mainly from Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, though the soft-spoken Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmad also did some firefighting on behalf of his party bosses.

For Sheikh Aftab, the Panama Papers were part of an international conspiracy to defame the party leadership, who had been putting in lots of hard work to put the country on the path to economic growth.

“It seems certain international forces are active against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), so they have launched a smear campaign against the prime minister,” Mr Ahmad said.

Senator Rashid then picked up the argument where his cabinet colleague Khawaja Mohammad Asif had left off on Thursday.

He said that setting up offshore companies was perfectly legal under the law of the land and that Hassan and Hussain Nawaz – who were forced to live in exile after the 1999 military coup – had committed no wrong.

“Fresh from their education, they were on the verge of starting their careers and set up their business abroad under pressing circumstances,” the information minister explained. However, he didn’t shed any light on how the two had developed their business empires.

The minister was still building his arguments in favour of the ruling family when a PTI back-bencher interrupted him. It was then that the minister turned his attention to PTI Chairman Imran Khan. “Sometimes he hides behind stay orders and sometimes behind cancer patients whenever questions are raised about the misuse of the charity he collected in the name of the poor.”

The minister’s criticism of the PTI chairman led to a ruckus in the house, but Speaker Ayaz Sadiq managed to control things.

Concluding his speech, the minister said that the TORs of the judicial commission were being framed, but “if the opposition is not happy with the judicial commission, they can certainly approach the Supreme Court.”

MQM’s Asif Hasnain said it was a unique precedent that those who were accused of committing a wrong had decided to constitute a commission to investigate themselves. JI’s Sher Akbar then recommended convening a multi-party conference over the issue as it was far too serious to be left to the government alone.

ANP protest

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, ANP Senators Zahid Khan and Shahi Syed announced plans to launch a protest campaign against the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They claimed that the provincial government had failed to address the problems of the people of the province and announced that they would hold their protest outside parliament in Islamabad. 

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2016