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Kulsoom Nawaz denies friendship with Vajpayee

Nawaz Sharief's wife Kulsoom has denied that the deposed prime minister had a personal friendship with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying that ''we just wanted that the Kashmir issue be solved through talks and not through war.''

Promising a political fight to win her husband's freedom, she said: ''I am out of my house to fight a battle for my innocent husband who is in jail for no crime of his. I have never had any ambitions in politics. But now if I am in politics, I am here to save my husband,'' she said.

Sharief has been jailed by the new military rulers to face charges of hijacking, attempt to murder and high treason that carry a death sentence in Pakistan.

Sharief's son Hasan also has denied reports that he contacted Vajpayee to help save his father's life.

''We just wanted a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue without any bloodshed. Is it personal friendship?'' Kulsoom asked.

At the height of the Kargil confrontation, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had created a sensation by claiming that the Pakistan Army had kept Sharief in the dark on its plans to intrude into Indian territory.

The military rulers are now interrogating three confidants of Sharief for allegedly masterminding a plot to supply India a taped conversation between Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf and his deputy during the Kargil crisis.

''I will say goodbye the moment my husband comes out and I pray all day long for that moment,'' Kulsoom said.

Although she said she had no plan to lead the Pakistan Muslim League party, she has started attending some party meetings.

Kulsoom's comments on not having any plans to lead the PML assume significance in the light of claims by former interior minister Shujaat Hussain that it was his timely interference in Karachi last week that stopped an announcement by the women of the Sharief family to nominate her as head of the party.

Meanwhile, a full bench of the Lahore high court could not hear several petitions and applications filed by Kulsoom Sharief, Nusrat Shahbaz and others due to the sudden death of Muhammad Amin Kalanori, vice chairman Punjab Bar Council.

UNI

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