LONDON, Sept 7: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif have told Saad Hariri, presumably an emissary of Saudi Kingdom, that they would go home on Monday, come what may.
Disclosing this, Mr Pervez Rashid, former PTV chairman and a close confidant of the Sharifs, told Dawn that the Hariri-Nawaz meeting had taken place two days back in London.
He confirmed that as an alternative Mr Hariri had proposed that Shahbaz ‘‘return home as planned on September 10 and Nawaz Sharif follow him after the elections’’, but Nawaz reportedly rejected the suggestion and said that nothing was now going to change his mind.
The meeting concluded with the Sharifs telling Mr Hariri that on their part they would take this meeting as the last one on the matter, Mr Rashid added. “It is a closed chapter now,” he said.
When asked why the PML-N was keeping the name of the airline Nawaz and his entourage is taking and its timing a secret, Mr Rashid said that under normal circumstances the party would have made a public announcement well in advance, “but these are not normal days for us, and we would like to give Musharraf as little time as possible to plot how best to thwart the Sharifs homeward journey.”
He said the party was expected to invite all those media persons who wished to travel with the PML leadership to arrive at Heathrow on Sunday afternoon where they would be handed over their tickets and boarding passes.
Inquiries revealed that there were only two flights to Islamabad from Heathrow on Monday — British Airways and PIA. One source said Nawaz could also take the Thai airline and go back home via Bangkok.
Sources close to the Sharifs said that the worst that was expected to happen to Nawaz and Shahbaz on landing is that they would be picked up at the airport and put in house arrest at their Raiwind house, “because the courts in their assertive mood would not allow Musharraf to harass them with concocted cases”.
They said they found the statement of Saudi ambassador to Pakistan as reassuring as it hinted at Saudi neutrality in the matter.
According to the Guardian on Friday, Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has booked himself on five different flights to the country next week to counter government efforts to thwart his return. The paper said Mr Sharif was unlikely to take the national airline, Pakistan International Airlines, or charter his own plane. Instead, aides say, he will take a scheduled flight.
Mr Sharif’s aides say he will be accompanied by 100 people, including 60 journalists, who have been told little other than to be ready to leave on Sunday night.
The drama is reminiscent of 1999 when Mr Sharif refused to allow a plane carrying Gen Musharraf to land in Karachi, triggering the military coup. This time, Gen Musharraf fears Mr Sharif’s return could imperil his power-sharing talks with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Meanwhile, the PML-N sources said that Mustafa Khar called on Nawaz Sharif on Friday. His offer to accompany the former prime minister on his flight back to Pakistan was accepted.
Lebanese leader Saad Hariri is arriving in Islamabad on Saturday and, according to Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, he will meet President Pervez Musharraf and deliver him a ‘special message’.
