LAHORE, Aug 25: Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening to perform Umra — his second in a few weeks — amid speculation that he was carrying a message for the Saudi government.

However, he told reporters before departure that he had no message for the Saudi authorities. “Honestly, I am not carrying any message.”

He said he was going to Saudi Arabia with his family to thank God for affording him the opportunity to work as the chief law officer of the government.

Malik Qayyum is going to perform Umra on a day when President Gen Pervez Musharraf was quoted as having said that he would talk tell the Saudi government that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was morally obliged to stay out of the country for 10 years.

Malik Qayyum had also performed Umra when the reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was being heard by the Supreme Court.

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