The government appears agreeable to renew the passport of Nawaz Sharif, as speculation here thickens that Saudi government effected rapprochement between the exiled ex-prime minister and President Pervez Musharraf during latter's high-profile visit to the Kingdom.
Nawaz Sharif's application for renewal of his passport would be given due consideration and would be decided on merit, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told a private channel. His remark has come in the wake of reports that Nawaz Sharif and his spouse applied to Pakistan consulate in Jeddah for the renewal of their passports last week.
Early last week, President Musharraf travelled to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Crown Prince Abdullah. His entourage, which was accorded high-level protocol and was received at the airport by the Abdullah himself, included Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Rao Sikander Iqbal.
The urgency of the President's visit could be gauged from the fact that senate chairman Muhammadmian Soomro had to be summoned back home hastily to take over as acting president. And, in the meanwhile arrangements were made to ensure that should the chairman fail to reach Pakistan in time, Amir Hussain, Speaker of the National Assembly, would be sworn in as the acting president.
As to why the Saudi government has intervened in the matter lies in the realm of unknown, but clearly Nawaz Sharif's hosts would not have invited his archrival without some tangible progress in behind the scene efforts. Inclusion of the chief of PPP (former Patriots), Rao Sikander Iqbal, in the entourage gets explained if one accepts reports that the Patriots may very well shed their present identify and join the King's Party ie PML.
Quite a few PPP leaders do not dispute the assertion that Nawaz Sharif-Pervez Musharraf rapprochement is in the offing. They say even when the two exiled ex-PMs (Nawaz and Benazir) shared closest possible perspectives on national politics they harboured mistrust of each other.
Totally disappointed with lack of response from the mainstream PPP leadership, President Musharraf must have sought Saudis' intervention, said a party leader who did not want to be identified.
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