ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif met President-elect Asif Ali Zardari yesterday to congratulate him on his election victory and pledge support in tackling the country’s problems, officials said.
Sharif led a delegation of top leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party at the meeting held at Prime Minister’s House. “Sharif’s basic aim was to personally extend felicitations to Zardari on his election as president,” party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq told AFP.
“He also assured support to Zardari in strengthening the democratic setup in the country,” Farooq said, after the meeting which lasted about an hour and was described as “cordial.”
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan yesterday congratulated Zardari on his election as president of Pakistan, the Saudi Press Agency said. “We are looking forward to strengthening our strong and historic relations in all areas,” the king said in cable sent to Zardari.
Zardari is under pressure from the opposition to reverse controversial constitutional changes made by Pervez Musharraf, which give him the right to dismiss Parliament, as well as make key military and judicial appointments.
Sharif’s party has already demanded that Zardari, who will be sworn in as president today, resign as co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which won general elections in February.
Sharif quit the country’s coalition government late last month over differences with Zardari on the reinstatement of judges sacked by former president Musharraf last year. The split came one week after Musharraf resigned under threat of impeachment.
Sharif’s close aide and former minister Ahsan Iqbal said Zardari expressed his desire that the former premier rejoin the government but he declined to say if his party would continue to play the role of a constructive opposition.
“We are in the opposition but we don’t want to weaken the system,” Iqbal said. “We will play a positive role in helping the government steer the country out of economic crisis and extremism and terrorism,” he added.
Sharif made the visit yesterday because he will be unable to attend Zardari’s inauguration ceremony as he is traveling to London to visit his wife who recently underwent back surgery there.
Meanwhile, Zardari will visit China next week to negotiate a nuclear deal similar to the one between India and the US, an official said yesterday. “Pakistan is already in touch with China for the nuclear deal to meet its energy crisis and the talks would start during Zardari’s visit,” an official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
“This has nothing to do with the US-India deal but that has certainly provided us a way out to meet our energy crisis,” he said.
For the last many years, Pakistan has failed to meet its growing energy needs and the situation has worsened since November 2007, with the country facing massive power cuts and adopting summer time to benefit the most from daylight and save energy.
