Exiled former Premier Nawaz Sharif has rejected embattled President Pervez Musharraf's proposal for a meeting in Saudi Arabia for discussions on ending the political crisis in Pakistan.
Raja Zafrul Haq, the chairman of Sharif's PML-N party, said the military regime had made 'hectic' efforts to convene such a meeting over the past three days but the former prime minister refused to meet Musharraf.
"There were hectic attempts for the past three days for arranging such a meeting but Mian Nawaz Sharif was firm that he would not meet the General," Haq told PTI on Saturday.
During the last programme broadcast on the Geo News channel before it was shut down early Saturday morning, Sharif had hinted that he had received feelers for a meeting with Musharraf in Saudi Arabia, where he is living in exile.
"But this would have been against my principles and I said no. I refused to meet him (Musharraf)," said Sharif, who was deposed by the General in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Though the Supreme Court had ruled that Sharif could return to Pakistan, he was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia within four hours of flying into Islamabad on September 10. The Saudi government is believed to have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to allow Sharif to return to Pakistan before the general election.
Reports have suggested that the ruling PML-Q has been sending feelers for a rapprochement with Sharif's PML-N since talks stalled on a power-sharing arrangement between Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Haq also said the PML-N was undecided about joining an all-party conference called by Bhutto on November 21 as she had not given her clarifications on key issues raised by Sharif in a letter written to her.
"We have not formally decided on attending the meeting. We will decide after consulting our friends but as of now, we are still waiting for Benazir Bhutto's clarifications on the points raised by Mian Nawaz Sharif," Haq said.
The PML-N has suggested that Bhutto should delay the all-party conference till she gives the clarifications sought by Sharif. Bhutto and Sharif spoke on phone on Thursday but the PPP's position remained 'unclear,' Haq said.
In his letter to Bhutto, Sharif had said that she should make a clear demand for the reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges, restoration of the constitution as it was in October 1999, withdrawal of the emergency, complete press freedom and the holding of free and fair polls under an independent Election Commission.