ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid, an ex-officio member of the Parliamentary Committee framing Terms of Reference (TORs) on Panama Papers, has been made member of the body in place of Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
“A notification has been issued in this regard by the National Assembly Secretariat,” official sources in the secretariat told the state-run news agency on Friday.
Besides Zahid Hamid, Federal Ministers Ishaq Dar and Khawaja Saad Rafiq, National Party’s Mir Hasil Bizenjo and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl’s (JUI-F) Akram Khan Durrani are representing the government in the committee while Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Awami National Party’s (ANP) Ilyas Bilour, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Sahibzada Tariqullah, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Senator Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Tariq Bashir Cheema of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) are the representatives of the opposition.
Earlier on Thursday, the Parliamentary Committee agreed in principle on preamble of the TORs.
Talking to the media after the meeting on Thursday, member of the Parliamentary Committee Khawaja Saad Rafique expressed confidence that opposition and the government would reach consensus on TORs for investigation into Panama Papers.
The PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan said that the opposition members were participating in the proceedings of the committee with an open heart and mind. He said that they were ready to remove the name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the TORs furnished earlier by the opposition.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the committee wanted to make the investigation into Panama papers result oriented.
