ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique Tuesday said the draft presented by the opposition members of a parliamentary committee, for preparing Terms of Reference (TORs), was person specific and was not meant to hold accountability.
Speaking to media outside Parliament House after meeting of the parliamentary committee, the minister called the draft of the opposition extreme and person specific.
“It does not seem they want accountability,” he said adding some members of the opposition were only targetting one person whose name was not even mentioned in the Panama papers.
According to National Assembly Secretariat, it was the sixth meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Panama Papers held on Tuesday and the opposition members circulated a document titled
“Terms of Reference (As proposed by the Government and amended by the Opposition)”.
During the discussion, the government members pointed out that there was substantial difference between the ToRs circulated by the government earlier and the ToRs circulated by the opposition.
Saad said the parliamentary committee will meet again on Friday and the government members will give their opinion on TORs of the opposition.
The government side has provided three documents related to TORs while the opposition has come up with two drafts, he told.
If the opposition wants to resolve the issue, then the TORs should not be person specific, he stressed.
Saad said only names of children of Prime Minister were mentioned in the Panama papers, adding the opposition draft is an attempt to defame Nawaz Sharif who is the most popular leader of Pakistan.
He said the government wanted to make a law on accountability as a result of the TORs and the subsequent proceedings.
“We want to set up a judicial commission but unfortunately the present draft of the opposition is more extreme than the previous one.”
He said a certain opposition party should refrain from destabilizing Pakistan as it was only trying to create storm in a teacup. “We know what is the thinking of that political party,” he remarked.
He said the government members after holding meaningful consultation will respond to the suggestions of the opposition at the next meeting.
Federal Minister Zahid Hamid said the opposition raised the issue of amendment in the income tax law.
He said Senator Ishaq Dar gave the explanation that the changes in law were intended to align Pakistan with OECD countries to get timely information about offshore companies.
Earlier speaking to the media, opposition member of the committee Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said they have presented their suggestions to the government, adding opposition agreed to three out of four points of the government.
Senators Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Muhammad Ali Saif and Ilyas Ahmad Bilour and members of the National Assembly Zahid Hamid, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Akram Khan Durrani, Anusha Rehman Khan Advocate, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah and Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema attended the meeting as members of the Committee.
