ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: Pakistan Muslim League-N President Shahbaz Sharif made a telephonic contact with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari before leaving Dubai for New York, a source close to the Sharif family told Dawn on Thursday.

The source said the exiled leaders of the two main opposition parties discussed the current political situation in the country with particular reference to the ongoing anti-government campaign.

The source, however, was unable to give a satisfactory reply as to why Mr Shahbaz talked to the PPP leaders only on telephone and did not have a direct meeting with Ms Bhutto despite staying in Dubai for two days on his way to the US.

Interestingly, the spokesmen for both the component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) were unable to either confirm or deny the report of the contact between Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto.

The PML-N information secretary, Siddiqul Farooque, and PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar, when contacted for comments, did not confirm or deny the report as according to them they could not contact their exiled leaders despite repeated attempts.

The decision of Mr Shahbaz not to meet Ms Bhutto in Dubai has again created an impression that there are some differences between the PPP and the PML-N, the two arch rivals of the past, on certain points.

There are speculations among the political circles in the capital that Mr Shahbaz has intentionally avoided to meet the PPP leaders to give a positive gesture to the elements, busy in the reconciliation efforts between the government and the opposition parties.

It is strange that when the ARD and other opposition parties are planning to launch a decisive anti-government campaign and the local leadership of the two parties are busy in consultations, the heads of PML-N and PPP did not even consider it important to have a meeting in Dubai.

Even a senior PPP leader showed his surprise over Mr Sharif's decision of not meeting with Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari despite having a good opportunity. He said it had been reported in a newspaper in Dubai that Mr Shahbaz had stated that meeting with Ms Bhutto was not in his schedule.

Meanwhile, another source told Dawn that during his stay in Dubai, Mr Shahbaz had held talks with some important Pakistan government officials, who had specially flown to the city to meet the PML-N leader.

There are also reports that Mr Shahbaz will not return to Saudi Arabia after his medical check-up in the US as he has decided to permanently settle in London.