Nawaz tries to establish contact with UAE PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tried to establish “urgent” contact with the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a Foreign Office letter available with ARY News confirmed.

Foreign Office had written to UAE Embassy in Islamabad, to inform them that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wishes to “urgently speak” to the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and requires their assistance in this regard.

The letter bearing the number DG (ME) 1/1/2017 and dated July 12, 2017,  informs the embassy that PM House will contact the UAE Vice President’s Office from the numbers given in the letter. 

“The esteemed Embassy is required to ensured early confirmation in this regard to Foreign Secretary’s office or office of the Chief of Protocol,” reads the letter.

‘PML-N leaders’ phones being tapped’

In another development after the Panamagate JIT report, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has instructed to tap phones of all the party leaders and keep an eye on their movements.

According to ARY News correspondent Sami Abraham, the PM has instructed that the telephones of the PML-N ministers, leaders, and members of assembly be tapped and their movements be tracked in order to avoid grouping and divisions within the party.

Abraham added that the post-JIT report strategy for Sharif family is that during the hearing of the case, the family’s lawyers will try to use delaying tactics to gain time over the issue which may lead to the disqualification of PM.

It is pertinent to note here that ARY News had learned from its sources on July 10 that after the submission of JIT’s final report in SC, a number of PML-N ministers had asked the PM not to resign but the meeting was conducted without the presence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who wants the PM to resign.

On July 12, Wednesday, PM’s brother Shahbaz Sharif and three other PML-N leaders, however, asked the PM to resign, ARY News Islamabad Bureau Chief Sabir Shakir told the channel.

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Shahbaz Sharif, other PML-N leaders ask PM Nawaz to resign: sources

On July 10, the JIT probing offshore assets of the ruling family submitted its final report in court which said that “he is in possession of assets beyond known sources of income”. The panel also disclosed that the prime minister was the chairman of a board in another offshore company, FZE Capital UAE.

After the report, a number of legal experts believe that it will not be easy for the prime minister to escape disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.