ISLAMABAD - Top aides of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday said nobody would be allowed to target the Sharif family as the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has decided to contact other parties to cool down the Panama leaks heat.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and seniors ministers held a consultative meeting at the Prime Minister’s House a day after Sharif flew to London for ‘medical treatment’ amid political tension.
The meeting – chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar – was attended by federal ministers Pervez Rashid, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Khawaja Mohammed Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafique. Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan also attended the meeting.
The close aides of the premier vowed to play on the front foot and stop the attempts to derail the system. “The meeting decided to forcefully respond to baseless allegations against the Prime Minister and his family,” said an official.
The participants, he said, regretted the attempts being made to sabotage the agenda for Pakistan's progress, development, and prosperity.
The meeting was of the view that the path of progress and development was being hampered for personal agenda, he added.
The senior PML-N leaders decided to take all the political forces into confidence over “nefarious designs of some elements” to sabotage the economic and development agenda. The meeting prayed for the early recovery of Prime Minister Sharif who was abroad for treatment.
Last week, leaked documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm showed that Sharif’s daughter Mariam Nawaz Sharif and sons Hussain Nawaz Sharif and Hassan Nawaz Sharif owned at least three offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. Mossack Fonseca denied any wrongdoing.
The official said Ishaq Dar apprised the meeting that the Prime Minister had directed to ignore conspiracies and rumours. He said Sharif wanted to focus on country's development instead of wasting time.
The Prime Minister, Dar said, had also directed his cabinet to particularly focus on early completion of the several ongoing mega development projects across the length and breadth of the country.
The participants of the meeting reiterated the PML-N had in the past confronted conspiracies and defeated such conspirator elements with success.
The senior leadership of the PML-N also vowed to fight these ‘elements’ at all political and legal fronts.
Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf is pressing the PM to resign after the Panama leaks. However, the Pakistan People’s Party has refused to support the anti-Sharif campaign – demanding a fair investigation into the Panama Papers.
PTI contacts with MWM on Panama Leaks
As part of strategy to reach out to all the religious and political parties to launch a protest movement against the government over Panama leaks, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) yesterday contacted Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM).
PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi made a telephonic contact with the leadership of MWM and both sides agreed to discus the matter of Panama Leaks, said a statement of Central Secretariat of the party.
The leadership of both sides will meet toady after noon in Islamabad. The MWM is a coalition of Muslim religious groups of Shia school of thought.