Terming the demand from other opposition parties for the prime minister’s resignation too early, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has called for setting up a parliamentary committee with “full powers to pursue investigations into Panama leaks.”
The PPP has also decided to form two committees - one to approach all other political parties to take them on board over its demand for the parliamentary probe and the other to advise the party leadership on the legal issues involved in carrying out investigations into the Panama leaks documents.
These decisions were made by the party during a meeting of its senior leaders which was presided over by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto at Zardari House here on Thursday. Bilawal arrived in the capital on Tuesday.
Briefing reporters about the decisions made by the party during the three-hour long meeting, PPP’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira said Bilawal had decided to set up a four-member committee comprising leaders of opposition and party’s parliamentary leaders in both the houses of the parliament to reach out to other political parties for devising a common strategy on the issue.
Terming the Panama leaks an important issue, Kaira said the party would devise its strategy only after consultations with the other parliamentary parties.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, blaming the opposition’s lack of clarity for the delay in the initiation of an inquiry into the Panama Papers leak,  revealed yesterday that five judges had already refused to be part of the judicial commission.
The judges, including two former Supreme Court chief justices, had excused themselves from becoming part of an inquiry into the matter due to the mayhem caused by the opposition, he said.
The minister said at a press conference that the government wanted a former SC judge, who would be assisted by two other retired judges, to head the panel.
He said that former chief justices Nasirul Mulk and Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, as well as retired judges Amirul Mulk Mengal, Sair Ali and Tanvir Khan had turned down a seat on the judicial commission.
He said the government was in contact with other retired judges to fill the role. Clarifying that it was up to Hasan and Hussain Nawaz, sons of the prime minister, to respond to the allegations that had come forth, he said that the government was ready to bring forward anything related to the Panama Papers episode and related matters.
He admitted that it was a crime if un-accounted money had left Pakistan, but added that there was nothing wrong if funds had been generated and loans obtained abroad.