ISLAMABAD: Talks between the government and the opposition over the terms of reference (ToR) for the proposed Panamagate commission hit a deadlock on Friday when both sides refused to budge on their stated positions on investigations into the Panama Papers leaks.

As per the official communiqué issued after a meeting of a joint parliamentary committee, the government refused to accept the 15 questions prepared by the opposition for the inquiry against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, in the present form, and suggested to the latter “to submit re-articulated/fresh proposals”.

On the other hand, the opposition, according to its press release, reiterated its stance that it could review its question numbers (xii) and (xiii) in case the government accepted the remaining questions. These questions (12 & 13) were about the mentioning of the PM’s name in the ToR and details of facilitation he had received during his exile in Saudi Arabia.

The committee will meet again on Monday at 4pm.

The government on Friday bro­ught in Law Minister Zahid Hamid in place of Khawaja Asif, as one of its six members of the committee.

“In so many words, as of now there is a complete deadlock until one of the sides significantly changes its position on the issue of Panama Papers,” a participant of the meeting told Dawn.

The participant said that during the meeting Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP criticised Senator Ishaq Dar for what he called misleading the media that the opposition had dropped its demand for investigation against the prime minister.

Another participant said the government side had suggested a broader investigation against all those who were found involved in illegal transfer of funds out of the country, instead of focusing on the Panama Papers. The proposal was rejected by the opposition, he said.

The government also offered to make amendments to the Inquiry Commission Act of 1956 as per the preamble agreed between the two sides, but this too didn’t go down well with the opposition.

Later talking to journalists outside the Parliament House, Senator Ahsan clarified: “It’s wrong that the opposition has agreed to drop the name of the prime minister from the probe. The prime minister is father of Maryam, Hassan and Hussain and, therefore, one way or the other, his name has to be part of the proposed investigation.”

PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “The opposition hasn’t moved even an inch from its stated position and inquiry has to start from the prime minister. There was no need of this committee, if there were no Panama Papers.”

Later talking to Dawn, Mr Qureshi accused the government of pushing to generalise the issue of Panama Papers and said the opposition had been demanding that the probe start from the prime minister and then extend it to whatever sectors and individuals the government was interested in. He reiterated that if the committee had to agree it had to be in totality.

MASS MOBILIZATION: Later in the evening, the PTI held a meeting at Bani Gala presided over by its chief Imran Khan. The party decided to keep its focus on the mass mobilisation against the government over the Panamagate scandal.

“The PTI senior leadership decided that at this critical juncture in the nation’s history, with the growing crisis over the Panama Papers, the party has to mobilise the masses for a nationwide movement against corruption, tax evasion and money laundering,” said a statement issued after the meeting.

It said the leadership had decided to postpone the intra-party elections indefinitely. However, it added, the party remained committed to intra-party elections.

At the same time, the PTI expressed serious concern over the government’s efforts to pressure the independent media, especially the electronic media. It accused the government of using Pemra to harass those TV networks that failed to toe its line.

The PTI leadership felt that it was simply unacceptable that the government was using public funds in efforts to stop TV channels from conducting investigations into corruption and exposing the guilty, while lavishing disproportionate funds to those channels that fell in line with the government propaganda.

“The independent media has fought for its freedom and independence and the PTI stands behind the independent media and will not allow the government to use Pemra for its nefarious ends,” the statement added.

In reply to a question, Mr Qureshi said the PTI was fully committed to its ongoing anti-corruption movement. “We are reaching out to the general public, lawyers and various elected associations throughout the country.”

He said that at the moment the PTI was wholeheartedly trying to get something out of the ToR committee, then the option of the courts was available, but one thing was certain that the party would take its anti-corruption campaign to its logical conclusion.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2016