ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto is expected to meet Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Oct 19 in London to take him into confidence about recent contacts the military regime had reportedly made with her party, sources in the two parties told Dawn on Saturday.

A senior PML-N office-bearer confirmed that the two former prime ministers were meeting in London on 19th of this month while a spokesman for the PPP chairperson, Farhatullah Babar, said Ms Bhutto would be in London on that date.

This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since July 2 when they jointly presided over a meeting of

the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) in

London. The ARD parties had signed the charter of democracy at the meeting.

The PML-N office-bearer, who wished not to be named, said the Oct 19 meeting had been arranged at the request of Ms Bhutto. He said Mr Sharif would seek to know details of developments with reference to reported contacts between the PPP and the regime.

He said the two leaders would discuss a strategy to launch a movement against the government after Eid as well as the issue of the formation of a grand opposition alliance.

The PPP does not favour the idea of such an alliance in presence of three major opposition groupings — the ARD, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement.

The PML-N leader said the heads of the PPP and the PML-N would also discuss plans for the next general elections.

A source in the PPP said Ms Bhutto would request Mr Sharif to declare that the cases instituted against her during the PML-N government were false and politically-motivated.

According to the source, the PPP chairperson had made such a request during her meeting with Mr Sharif on July 2 also, but he refused.

Ms Bhutto, the source said, was also planning to convene a meeting of the party’s senior leaders in Dubai in the last week of this month.

Mr Babar said that Ms Bhutto was currently on a visit to the United States. He said she was scheduled to arrive in Dubai on Oct 15, but she had changed her itinerary and would now reach Dubai on Oct 22 after a brief stay in London.

“Right now, I can only confirm that Ms Bhutto will be in London on 19th,” he said, when asked about her meeting with Mr Sharif.