Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto on Friday said that no meeting will be held between his father Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London.
Bilawal Bhutto took to twitter and ruled out all the rumours and speculations regarding the meeting.
Earlier, PPP members had advised Asif Ali Zardari not to meet the premier. The senior members said that PPP had already faced losses and meeting with PM Nawaz Sharif in prevailing circumstances will further damage the party’s image.
Sharif’s visit to Britain on Wednesday for a pending medical check-up has set political circles abuzz after he landed in controversy following the Panama Papers leak as PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari is also present there.
At a time when Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan threatened to march toward Nawaz Sharif’s residence in Raiwind, leaders of the opposition had been casting doubt on the reason for the Sharif‘s sudden visit to London.
Zardari’s movement in London is also being closely monitored by the media. There were speculations Sharif had gone to London to meet Asif Ali Zardari to form a strategy with him to avoid possible threat from the PTI.
On Thursday, Imran Khan and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan travelled through the same flight from Lahore to London. Senior PTI leaders including Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan also accompanied Imran Khan.
The PTI chief had announced that he is going to UK for two fundraisers and a rally for Kashmir in Birmingham. Apart from these activities, he said that he would also meet experts of two companies specializing in forensic tax audits.
Reportedly, Pakistan minister Shehbaz Sharif’s family was also onboard the flight. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, the Interior Minister rejected speculations that Sharif’s London visit has anything to do with the Panama papers scandal.
The minister said he was facing medical issues from last two or three months and he went to London for his medical treatment.
Nawaz Sharif and his family are under fire at home after Panama Papers leaks that prompted corruption allegations against them.
He departed to London to have his ‘medical check-up’, but political circles were abuzz the Pakistan premier actually intended to meet Asif Ali Zardari to seek advice from him as to how to end the crisis surfacing after the Panama Papers leaks.
The leaked Panama Papers, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposes how some of the world’s most powerful people have secreted their money offshore, and also implicated Sharif’s sons Hassan Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif.
