Nawaz Sharif staying in palace of King Abdullah, meeting expected

[Naveed Yaseen]

NAVEED BUTT
ISLAMABAD (September 12 2009): PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his family members reached Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. He is strongly expected to meet Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Sources told Business Recorder on Friday that Nawaz and his family members are staying in Makkah in one of Saudi King's palaces in the kingdom. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

A former secretary general of PML-N, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, said Nawaz's visit to Saudi Arabia was "totally non-political". Nawaz would perform Umra and spend the last ten days of Ramazan in Saudi Arabia. Jhagra said the Sharif family has been spending last ten days of Ramazan in Saudi Arabia over the past several years.

Party sources said it was likely that the discussions between Nawaz and the Saudi king and other Saudi leaders would not be made public. Yet another party source said it was unlikely that Nawaz would be allowed to back off from the deal he had made earlier not to prosecute Musharraf if he tendered his resignation.

He said that the Sharif brothers and top leadership of PML-N had softened their demand for Musharraf's trial under Article-6 of the Constitution owing to increasing pressure by the guarantors, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, UK, and Pakistan Army. Similarly, another PML-N source said the party's central leadership would take partymen into confidence about the pressure on them to soften their anti-Musharraf stance, and to chalk out new plan of action to prepare for the next elections. He said that Saudis have already conveyed to the Sharifs to go soft on Musharraf's trial.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=960235