October 20, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 20, 1429

LAHORE, Oct 19: PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother and Punjab chief minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif held talks on Sunday to finalise Mr Nawaz’s letter to Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and a power sharing formula with the PPP in the province.

The meeting was held at the Raiwind residence of the Sharifs.

Party sources said that in the six-point letter, to be delivered to Mr Gilani shortly, the federal government had been told that that the issue of terrorism in tribal areas could not be tackled without a new national policy, taking on board all political parties.

Seeking details of alleged agreements signed by former president Gen Pervez Muhsarraf with the US regarding the war on terror, the PML-N leaders asked the government not to make people of Fata a victim of bombing and hold talks with those tribesmen who had not taken up arms against the government.

It has vehemently opposed the government’s plans to approach the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to tackle the financial crisis, urging rulers to depend on the country’s resources by forming a national strategy.

The officials said that former finance minister Ishaq Dar had told the Sharifs that Pakistan had a capability to stand on its own and did not need the IMF and the World Bank’s.

The letter would contain the PML-N’s demand of reinstatement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The Sharifs also discussed the option of tabling a resolution, in collaboration with some other parliamentary parties particularly the Jamaat-i-Islami in the National Assembly, asking the government to review its war on terror policy. A meeting of parliamentarians of PML-N and Jamaat-i-Islami is expected in Islamabad on Tuesday to frame a joint resolution for the purpose.

The meeting also discussed the souring relationship with the federal government in the wake of the PPP demand for a “40 per cent share” in the Punjab government.

The sources said the meeting had rejected the demand, but Mr Nawaz had asked Mr Shahbaz to keep the alliance with the PPP in the province intact.