Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif grow closer to Pervez Musharraf

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League
(Nawaz) is coming closer to President Pervez Musharraf, an erstwhile
staunch rival, official sources said.

The PML(N), which had adopted an inflexible attitude on talks with
President Musharraf, has now “softened its stance” and expressed
readiness to hold talks conditionally with the top leadership, the
sources, in contact with the party, told this newspaper.

The PML(N) leader Shahbaz Sharif, Mr Sharif’s younger brother, who
is in London for medical check-up said that his party would be ready to
hold talks with President Musharraf if the President “agrees to hold a
transparent election and disassociates from the King’s Party”.

In an interview with a British new channel, the PML(N) leader also
said that if his party comes to power it will maintain close
relationship with all the countries of the world but would not
“compromise on national interests”.

The sudden change in the PML(N) stance came in the wake of reports
that Mr Shahbaz Sharif had met with Brig. Niaz Ahmed (Retd), a common
friend of Sharif brothers and President Musharraf.

There are speculations that Mr Shahbaz Sharif may meet President Musharraf who is also expected in London next week.

The PML(N) sources told this newspaper that Mr Nawaz Sharif plans to
visit Saudi Arabia soon to perform Umra (pilgrimage) and express his
gratitude to the Saudi King and other royal leaders for extending
facilities during his stay in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Nawaz Sharif is also expected to apply for a machine-readable
passport within days and may visit immigration office in Lahore next
week.

Mr Sharif’s passport is about to expire and a new passport is needed before he travels abroad.

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on Jan 21 2008. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry