ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: Deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif has revealed that he was offered a deal by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to contest the Oct 10 general election.

In a rare interview in exile in Saudi Arabia, Mr Sharif told BBC radio’s Urdu service that Gen Musharraf had sent an envoy earlier this year inviting him to return to the country to contest the elections under a deal. He turned down the offer, but refused to go into details.

Mr Sharif, interviewed in a palace provided to him by the Saudi royal family, also refused to have his voice recorded, saying that “I do not want to embarrass my hosts.”

The two-time former prime minister and a family entourage of almost 20 headed into exile in the kingdom in December 2000 under a deal brokered by the Saudi royal family.

The exile agreement, which released Mr Sharif from prison on hijacking and tax evasion convictions, has never been made public.

He vowed to continue his fight against the dictatorship of Gen Musharraf, according to a paraphrase of the interview run on the BBC’s website. He was described as defiant and emotional.

Mr Sharif alleged that Gen Musharraf had sent Majid Nizami, with a specific proposal for political rapprochement. He told the interviewer he could not even consider a deal with the president, whom he accused of betraying his oath of office.

He branded “farcical” the next Thursday’s elections, the first since President Musharraf toppled him and threw him in jail.

When asked if leaving Pakistan to escape being jailed was a betrayal of the masses, Mr Sharif replied that everything was decided by God, so when God decided to send them to Saudi Arabia, the family accepted it as a blessing in disguise.- AFP