LAHORE, Sept 10: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif knew two days before his departure from London to Islamabad that he would be deported immediately after his arrival in Pakistan, a London-based PML-N leader told Dawn on Monday on condition of anonymity.
He claimed that Mr Sharif’s wife, Begum Kulsoom, would now try to land in Pakistan on September 20 under a ‘Plan B’ of the PML-N party, seats had already been booked on various flights.
Communication with Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz and slain Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri’s son Saad Hariri over the last couple of days had made it clear to Mr Sharif that his deportation was imminent, the leader privy to the last-minute consultations for chalking out the party’s future line of action said.
This was the reason for Mr Sharif asking Shahbaz Sharif
at the eleventh hour to stay back in London, instead of accompanying him to Pakistan, he said.
He claimed that if Begum Kulsoom met the same fate as her husband on her return, then their son Hussain Nawaz would attempt to reach Pakistan after a couple of weeks.
“The purpose is to continue to stir the local politics and mobilise masses against the army government,” he said.
He said that despite being sure of his exile, Mr Sharif decided to return as he was left with no other option in the light of the Supreme Court verdict. “Mr Sharif feared that he would lose people’s sympathy and trust if he did not try to go back to the country.”
PML-N foreign affairs’ coordinator Mohammad Mahdi alleged that Mr Sharif had been deported under pressure from the US.
He argued that had Saudi Arabia or Saad Hariri been worried about the violation of the so-called agreement then they would have taken notice of it when Mr Sharif started taking active part in politics after moving to London from Jeddah around two years back.
He claimed that Riyadh had no objection to the Sharifs’ return to Pakistan and it was evident from the fact that a team of construction experts had been sent from Jeddah to Lahore six months back to rebuild and renovate the family’s Raiwind residence before their arrival.
“The Saudi authorities came into action only when Washington saw that Mr Sharif’s return was going to upset their future plans in Pakistan.”
