By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : President Pervez Musharraf and Shahbaz Sharif, leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), are expected to meet in London Monday, according to informed sources, though both the government and the former ruling party denied any plans for such a meeting.
“There is no such meeting on cards and president will be on official and partly on personal visit (to London),” an official of the presidency said.
Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, last week met Musharraf’s close aide Brig. (retd) Niaz Ahmed in the Pakistani capital here. But later he said that the meeting was personal and had nothing to do with any rapprochement with Musharraf.
A day later, the younger Sharif went to London followed by Ahmed and both are still there while Musharraf will be flying to Britain Sunday on the first leg of his four-nation visit.
“No, PML-N has no interest to meet Musharraf, and Shahbaz is there (in London) for a medical check-up,” party spokesperson Sidiqul Farooq told IANS.
He said that such reports were being spread by the presidency only to create confusion ahead of the Feb 18 elections.
However, party insiders said that through Ahmed, Musharraf has requested the Sharifs to soften their rhetoric against him.
In November last year, Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia and London. His government was overthrown in October 1999 in a bloodless military coup.
His return, it was said, was prompted after the Saudi king put pressure on Pakistan’s military regime. Since then the Sharifs and Musharraf are at loggerheads with PML-N demanding his resignation.
However, a party insider said that that the younger Sharif, who was chief minister of Punjab during the PML-N government 1997-99, has a “soft corner” for Musharraf with whom he had developed “close” friendship when he was chief of the army staff.
“Shahbaz is acceptable to Musharraf and even the president has offered him to become a prime minister of the national government but Nawaz is not ready for this deal and Shahbaz cannot leave his brother,” said a senior PML-N leader requesting anonymity.
He said the “desperate Musharraf who is feeling lonely after quitting the army wants backing of some strong party to continue in the presidency. And after Bhutto’s assassination, younger Sharif is the best choice.”
The PML-N leader said the party has made three conditions to support Musharraf – restoration of all the judges sacked after the October emergency, undoing all constitutional amendments made after Oct 1999 and setting up an independent Election Commission that should be headed by former Supreme Court judge Rana Baghwandas, the only Hindu judge in Muslim majority Pakistan to reach the second highest position in the judiciary.
“I believe in London’s meeting Musharraf and Shahbaz would be discussing on these lines, because Nawaz can agree only under these three conditions,” said the PML-N leader confirming that Musharraf and Shahbaz had been talking to each other for long even during the Sharifs’ exile and are still in contact over phone.
“This would be the first ever one-to-one meeting between them after the 1999 coup,” said the PML-N leader.