ISLAMABAD, 9 September 2007 — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should honor an undertaking to stay in exile for 10 years, Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin said yesterday. The prince was talking to the media here at a joint press conference with Lebanese leader Saad Hariri after a meeting with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
“We are hoping, we are really hoping, sincerely hoping, His Excellency Nawaz Sharif honors this agreement,” Muqrin said.
He said he hoped everyone would place Pakistan’s national interest and security above personal interest. He said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah “helped the Sharif family to get out of imprisonment” with the agreement. The king “hopes for the sake of the national interest of Pakistan that all parties concerned with the agreement will honor and adhere to the terms,” Muqrin said.
Sharif plans to fly with his exiled younger brother Shahbaz to Islamabad from London tomorrow. The two-time prime minister was toppled by Musharraf in a coup in 1999, convicted of hijacking and terrorism, and sentenced to life imprisonment before being released into exile in Saudi Arabia under a deal.
But the Supreme Court last month said Sharif had an “inalienable right” to return. Asked about the Supreme Court ruling, Muqrin said: “Which comes first, the agreement or the Supreme Court? We respect fully the Supreme Court and law of every land but you still have an agreement.” King Abdullah is concerned about the “unity, stability and prosperity” of Pakistan, Muqrin said.
Asked about the details of the exile deal, Muqrin said: “He (Sharif) knows it, President Pervez Musharraf knows it and most of the people of Pakistan know it.” He waved a sheaf of paper and said: “It is here and signed.”
He said Musharraf had not spoken to him about the prospect of sending Sharif to Saudi Arabia again if he returned to Pakistan. “Sharif’s return to Pakistan does not pose any threat to Saudi-Pak ties as our brotherly relations are strong and deep-rooted,” the prince said.
In London, Sharif said he would return home tomorrow. “I will go back to Pakistan on Sept. 10 with my brother because my country needs me,” he told a news conference.
He demanded that Musharraf stop trying to block his way and asked: “Why is Musharraf so afraid that he is putting the country’s solidarity at stake by involving the brotherly country of Saudi Arabia?” He said it was Musharraf, not he, who had breached the terms of the deal.
“Today he is accusing me of breaching the contract when in fact he is the one who broke the constitutional pledge that he took when he was appointed as the army chief,” Sharif said.
“If there is bloodshed on my return it will be a tragedy for Pakistan,” he added.
— Additional input from agencies
