LAHORE: Members of Qatar’s royal family arrived in the Cholistan desert in Bahawalnagar district on Monday to camp and hunt migratory birds.

Qatar’s former deputy prime minister Muhammad bin Khalifa Al Thani was among the royal guests. Their flight had to be diverted from Bahawalpur to Multan because of foggy conditions so they had to travel to Bahawalnagar by road, security sources said.

Prince Hamad Bin Jassim, one of the royal family members, had accompanied the royal family when they landed in Lahore in the first week of December. The prime minister’s family had hosted a luncheon for them at their Jati Umra residence in Raiwind. However, an official said, the prince had left Pakistan a few days ago.

Prince Jassim had made headlines over a month ago when the Sharifs presented a letter from him regarding the ownership of their London property raised in the Panamagate case in the Supreme Court.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan had termed the letter “fake” and demanded the PM’s disqualification.

Prince Jassim, Qatar’s former prime minister, and Saifur Rehman of Ehtesab Bureau-fame are among the owners of REDCO International. The former premier has shown willingness to appear before the court or a commission to be cross-examined if the letter needed to be verified. His name, too, had appeared in the Panama Papers.

A new bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing of the Panamagate case on Wednesday (today).

Published in Dawn January 4th, 2017