Pak considers options to deal with Sharifs return

Islamabad, Sept 9: With the failure of all efforts to stop former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from returning to Pakistan, the government is considering various options to deal with the situation arising out of the exiled leader's arrival.

Mr Sharif, who is currently in the United Kingdom, is due to leave for Pakistan from London at 2030 GMT on board a Gulf Airways flight and reach Pakistan at 1100 hrs (local time) tomorrow.

''The government is considering the option to deport former premier Nawaz Sharif and arrest his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, following the failure of all efforts to stop them from returning to Pakistan on September 10,'' reports here cited top sources as saying.

They said this measure ''would be in line'' with the package offered by President Pervez Musharraf to Mr Sharif through Lebanese politician Saad Hariri that the government would accept Shahbaz Sharif if the former Prime Minister postponed his return for the time being.

''Another option would be to deport both the Sharifs to Saudi Arabia but this would be against the spirit of the announcements for national reconciliation made by some prominent PML leaders and President Musharraf,'' they said, adding both the Sharifs could be arrested, but the government was not keen on this step as it ''could worsen the political crisis.'' The government would make a final strategy by tonight,'' they said.

The former Prime Minister is going ahead with his plans to return despite appeals by a Saudi prince and Saad Hariri, the son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri -- both of whom had originally brokered the agreement under which Mr Sharif was released from prison and sent into exile -- to honour the understanding.

Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz and Mr Hariri arrived here separately yesterday, the former with a message from Saudi King Abdullah and the latter after a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in London.

After meeting President General Pervez Musharraf for two-and-a-half hours, Prince Muqrin and Mr Hariri addressed an unprecedented joint press conference at Army House, telling journalists that Mr Sharif was bound under the agreement not to return to Pakistan before ten years in exile.

''We sincerely hope that Nawaz Sharif honours this agreement,'' Prince Muqrin -- who brandished a copy of the agreement to the media -- said, adding that the former Prime Minister would be welcomed back to Saudi Arabia.

Pointing out that the Saudi King helped Mr Sharif and his family to get out of imprisonment under the agreement, ''which was aimed at ensuring the stability of Pakistan'', the Prince said King Abdullah hoped for the sake of the national interest of Pakistan that all parties concerned with the agreement will honour and adhere to the terms.'' Mr Hariri said he helped broker the agreement under which Mr Sharif was released from prison and allowed to go into exile, adding he kept regular contacts with Nawaz Sharif to ensure that the agreement was ''continuing and binding, because this was an understanding and it was a promise made to the Custodian of two Holy Mosques''.

However, while for the first time admitting publicly that he had reached an agreement with government, Mr Sharif last evening claimed that he had reached an understating with Pakistan government under which he had to live in exile for five years instead of ten years.

''Saad Hariri, the son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had brokered the agreement on behalf of King of the Saudi Arabia,'' he said, addressing a press conference in London.

''Hariri had given me the agreement document for signing and had said that they would get changed the duration of living in exile for five years instead of ten years,'' Sharif claimed, adding that no doubt in the document the duration of exile was written as ten years.

Meanwhile, terming Mr Sharif's acts ''childish and against moral obligations,'' Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani noted that the former Prime Minister, after being sentenced by a court of law, ''requested the respected ruler of a brotherly state and made an agreement.'' ''He left the country happily under the same accord and now he is saying that the country is calling him back,'' the Minister said, adding that any violation of the agreement made by Mr Sharif with the Saudi Arabian authorities would bring into question the credibility of all Pakistani citizens.

UNI