Nawaz unlikely to meet Benazir

Published January 9, 2006

DUBAI, Jan. 8: PML-N leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in Dubai on a three-day visit, has no plans to meet another former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. A family spokesperson of the PPP’s chairperson referred all inquiries to the party’s spokesperson in Islamabad, but confirmed that no meeting between the opposition leaders had taken place and none was scheduled so far.

“There is no meeting and there are no indications that there will be a meeting”, the spokesperson of the Bhutto household in Dubai told Dawn.

PML-N circles in Dubai said that the PML-N leader was in Dubai for a different reason, and not for any political activity. “Mian Sahib is here to offer condolences to Dubai and UAE rulers and has no plans to see the PPP leader. That is all we know and if there are any plans (to meet Benazir) it’s beyond our knowledge,” said a local PML-N leader.

Local newspapers that predicated a Nawaz-Benazir meeting in their Sunday editions are not sure if such a meeting will take place. “All our sources are quiet and it looks there won’t be a face-to-face meeting and at the most they would have talked on phone”, said a journalist who is following the Nawaz Sharif story in Dubai.

Observers are of the view that Mr Sharif, who came out of his exile after almost five years, will be very careful and will not make any move in Daubi that may hamper his chances of getting a British visa.

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