Contrary to Pakistan's claims, the Saudi Embassy has expressed its complete ignorance about the presence of any accord between Islamabad and Riyadh, barring deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif from entering the country before the 'ten-year exile'.
"The embassy has no information about any document or accord reached between the two countries in the year 2000, which bars the Sharif brothers from entering Pakistan for at least ten years," The News reported on Thursday, quoting the Saudi mission to the Islamic nation.
Even according to a document signed by Sharif before he was sent to Jeddah, none of the details of the deal which the government claimed was entered between Sharif, Musharraf and the Saudi royals about his 'ten-year exile' along with his family existed on paper, according to the daily.
The former prime minister was released only after Musharraf, in a letter to the then President Rafiq Tarar with the subject 'Grant of Pardon', advised him to remit the sentence of imprisonment for life awarded to Sharif by the Sindh high court, according to the document.
After that Tarar, who was later removed by Musharraf in 2001, wrote "approved. Sentences remitted", it said.
While Sharif was granted pardon, none of the details of Saudi royal family's willingness to provide an asylum to him and 20 members of his family figured in the document.
Musharraf, in the past, had said that Sharif was pardoned following his commitment that he would go on 'ten-year exile'.
The pardon was granted to Sharif overnight and his family flew to Saudi Arabia. Except the document, there is no other paper containing the signatures of Sharifs and reflecting an accord between the two sides, the report said.
Tarar also denied having signed any deal between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the Sharifs. He confirmed to the newspaper that there was no other document available with the government except the four-page "petition" of the Sharifs.
The lack of evidence in writing might make it difficult for the government to put up a stiff legal challenge to the petition filed by Sharif and his brother in the apex court in which they alleged they were sent on a "forced exile" and sought judicial orders asking the government not to obstruct their return home.
A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry would hear the case.
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