General Raheel Sharif

Islamabad, May 12

A rare video with audio contents of a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and General Raheel Sharif has been leaked, apparently to counter media reports that Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief pressed the Prime Minister to complete the probe into Panama Papers quickly.

The leaked brief footage of Tuesday meeting shows the two leaders discussing the premier’s recent visit to London for medical checkup.

Nawaz Sharif is heard telling the Army Chief that a “date has been given” for medical checkup, with the latter responding that the Prime Minister should visit London before that date.

The video followed a controversial leak to media that the Army Chief in the same meeting had asked the prime minister to complete the probe into Panama Papers as early as possible.

The government angrily denied any such discussion and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that it was not possible to know what was discussed in the one-on-one meeting.

“It was a one-on-one meeting; who was the third person getting these details?” he said.

It is believed that the government or some of its sympathisers might have leaked the rare footage with audio to dispel the impression of army chief’s apparent intervention in a political matter between government and opposition.

The high-level meetings are covered only by the state media camera and the audio is always muted. It is not known how the audio was recorded and then leaked. — PTI