Moonis Elahi in London for important meetings amid political heat

LONDON: Minister for Water Resources and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) leader Moonis Elahi is set to hold important political meetings in London.

Moonis Elahi confirmed to Geo News that he will be staying in London for around four days but he said that he will not be holding any political meetings during his stay but the trusted sources have shared a different story.

Sources have said that Moonis Elahi will meet a few important political persons currently based in London. A source in Nawaz Sharif’s family said that there was no meeting planned but Shehbaz Sharif called on Chaudharies of Gujarat two weeks ago – after a very long time – and relations have improved between both sides.

Moonis Elahi reached London on Thursday afternoon via British Airways flight BA 260. When contacted by this reporter, Moonis Elahi said that he had come to London on a private visit. He said that he will be spending time in London to deal with some family matters. Moonis Elahi said that PMLQ remained an ally of PTI-led governments in the centre and Punjab and decisions for the future course of action will be taken by Pervaiz Elahi, his father and former Punjab chief minister.

Since the crisis of confidence in PM Imran Khan started, the Minister for Water Resources has struck a conciliatory tone and has asked PM Imran Khan to advise his lawmakers to stay calm and not panic. However, his father Pervaiz Elahi has minced no words in recent days and said that PM Imran Khan’s government was incompetent and failed on many fronts. Elahi said that PM Imran Khan’s nappies were changed by someone else for over 3.5 years and that the help he was receiving to run and manage the government was not available anymore to him.

Pervaiz Elahi also said that Imran Khan had made a fatal mistake by interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan military. In September 2020, this correspondent reported exclusively in The News that on instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s office, the govt had asked the UK govt to help trace any hidden assets of Moonis Elahi in the UK.

Trusted sources had shared with The News that Pakistani government authorities had made extensive inquiries to find details of assets, if any, owned directly or indirectly by Moonis Elahi, Pervaiz Elahi, Chaudhary Shujaat or any of the other family members. It’s understood that at least two requests were sent to the British government to assist in the pursuit of assets tracing but so far the search has yielded no positive results.

The federal government sent first request to the UK government’s Home Office around two years ago after the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Q entered into power coalition in Punjab and the centre. That request was on behalf of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and another investigating agency. A similar letter was also sent to the British Virgin Islands, seeking to trace out the alleged assets of Moonis Elahi. Both the Home Office and the BVI informed Pakistani officials that they were unable to trace assets.

Sources have told The News that a new request - not by the NAB – was launched in recent months to find out if Moonis Elahi, his father, his uncle Chaudhary Shujaat, and other family members own any assets in the UK.

In early 2018, the PMLQ leader Chaudhry Moonis Elahi appeared before the NAB to answer questions about his name in the Panama papers. Moonis Elahi has maintained that all his assets are declared to authorities in Pakistan.

Pervaiz Elahi alleged this week that on the one hand his party was part of the PTI government but on the other hand PM Imran Khan’s govt had attempted to get Moonis arrested through the NAB.