Zardari extends olive branch but Sharif smells ulterior motives

Islamabad, Oct. 24 (ANI): Ahead of their scheduled meeting on Monday, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari conveyed to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif that he is ready to abolish the 17th Amendment and implement the Charter of Democracy (CoD), but the former prime minister has expressed serious doubts over the PPP chairman's intentions.

"He lacks seriousness," was Sharif's immediate reaction when he received Zardari's olive branch.

The News quoted a PML-N source as saying that a senior PPP leader had told Sharif that Zardari had learned from his past mistakes and was now willing to closely work with Sharif to attain the common objectives of the CoD.

Zardari's representative also tried to assure Sharif that the president really wants to do what should have been done soon after the February 2008 elections, the report says.

Sharif, however, remained unimpressed, and said that Zardari was a not trustworthy.

The PML-N suspects that Zardari is trying to woo the party in a bid to strike a deal on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) issue.

But the PML-N, the source said, wouldn't be duped by promises, commitments and assurances.

"We would not let him (Zardari) use us yet," he said. (ANI)