Saudi Arabia offers to keep Sharif brothers in Jeddah again
Islamabad, Sept. 9 (PTI): As former Premier Nawaz Sharif is set to return here tomorrow along with his brother, Saudi Arabia has offered to keep them in exile again, leaving the option of deporting them back to Jeddah, where they spent six years before shifting to London, with the Pakistan government.
Saudi Prince and intelligence chief Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, who along with Saad Hariri, son of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, met President Pervez Musharraf yesterday to discuss the Sharif brothers' plans to return home, said later that Riyadh was ready to host them again.
Saudi Arabia would welcome the Sharifs if they are deported by the Pakistani government, local daily 'The News' quoted him as saying.
To a question, he said Musharraf did not raise the issue of sending the Sharifs back to Jeddah, where they were sent on exile by the Pakistan government.
"Saudi Arabia is for all our brothers and sisters all over the Muslim world," Aziz reportedly said when asked whether they could be deported again.
Aziz and Hariri, during a press conference yesterday, asked Sharif, who has been allowed by the Supreme Court to return home, to abide by an "agreement" he signed to stay in ten-year exile.
Aziz spoke sternly about consequences of Sharif flouting the Saudi request not to return, saying that the deposed Premier along with Musharraf and "most of the people of Pakistan knows it."
His comments provided the Pakistan government with an option to deport the brothers back to Jeddah. If that happens they may have to live there for another three years in exile.
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