December 26, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 27, 1429

LAHORE, Dec 25: A ‘breaking news’ on some private TV channels on Thursday night — about a meeting between PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in Dubai — created a lot of interest in political circles across the country and some analysts started talking about its implications for the country’s political set-up.

But the report fell through within an hour when PML-N’s legislator Captain Safdar and Marvi Memon of the PML-Q contradicted it and said that the two leaders had attended a wedding in Dubai but did not meet.

However, an associate of Mr Sharif, who did not want to be identified, insisted that the meeting had taken place, adding that it was hosted by a UAE minister who has made heavy investments in Pakistan in different projects.

According to him the two leaders discussed possible cooperation between their parties before the Senate election in March. “Both the parties have a common cause that the Pakistan People’s Party should not take the post of the Senate chairman,” the PML-N leader said.

He said the two parties would also explore cooperation in Punjab where relations between the PPP and PML-N were getting tense.

He said Pervaiz Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi and Nawaz Sharif’s sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz and nephew Hamza Shahbaz were present at the meeting.