Musharraf to visit Saudi; Sharif issue likely to crop up
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia shortly for "important discussions" with King Abdullah, a media report said here on Tuesday.
Musharraf had planned to go for a two-day visit on Monday but it was deferred, The News quoted diplomatic sources as saying. This would have been the military ruler's first visit to Saudi Arabia since the deportation of former premier Nawaz Sharif in September.
Presidential spokesman Maj Gen (retired) Rashid Qureshi told the newspaper that Musharraf would not be leaving for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and that he did not have the president's schedule thereafter.
Musharraf and the Saudi king are expected to discuss issues related to Sharif and his "future arrangement", the report said.
Sharif is currently living in a palace in Jeddah as a state guest of the Saudi royal family and King Abdullah has met him while Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal has been interacting with him on a regular basis.
The Saudis are of the view that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is also in exile, should not "suffer politically at home and they must get a level playing field in the affairs of Pakistan", the report said.
It also said ruling PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, have been urging their ally Musharraf to have a "soft corner" for the Sharif brothers.
In a separate report, The News said Saudi Arabia had "quietly asked" Pakistani authorities to release the ailing former ISI chief, Lt Gen Hameed Gul, who was arrested with his son Abdullah when he tried to meet deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry after the imposition of emergency.
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