Nawaz Sharif lied to parliament, says Pakistan's opposition

Islamabad, May 17: The opposition in Pakistan's parliament, which rejected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's speech in the National Assembly, will meet on Tuesday (May 17) to decide a future strategy over the Panama Papers leaks issue.

Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf's parliamentary leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday said the combined opposition would meet Pakistan Peoples Party leader Syed Khursheed Shah to "dissect and analyse" Sharif's speech and finalise their response, Dawn online reported.

"The prime minister lied on the floor of the house," Qureshi said, adding that all their questions remained unanswered.

Qureshi said the opposition would devise a future strategy against the backdrop of the refusal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to form a judicial commission to probe the Panama Papers scandal.

"We have rejected Sharif's speech and the Chief Justice has already rejected the terms of reference prepared by the government. So, we will see where do we go from here," he said.

When asked if opposition parties would continue to boycott the Nagtional Assembly proceedings, Qureshi said they would decide this at Tuesday's meeting.

On the other hand, Saeed Ghani, the PPP's parliamentary leader in the Senate, said the opposition would continue to boycott the proceedings of the upper house over the continued absence of Sharif.

Speaking to the media soon after Sharif's speech in the house, PPP's Khursheed Shah said the clarification presented by the prime minister did not address the questions posed by the opposition.

IANS