Pakistan's ruling PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is expected to meet his rival, Pakistan Muslim League-N president and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz, in London to discuss modalities for the latter's return to the country ahead of the general election.
Hussain is currently in London for a medical check-up but sources in his Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid party said he had been tasked with finalising the details for Shahbaz's return to Pakistan.
Sources said that the Pakistan government, especially Hussain, wanted the PML-N's participation in the general election to give credence to the already initiated national reconciliation process".
This process was set in motion by the National Reconciliation Ordinance issued by President Pervez Musharraf to grant amnesty to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and other political leaders in graft cases registered against them. However, Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia, turned down Musharraf's proposal.
According to sources, if these parleys bear fruit, Shahbaz Sharif will return to Pakistan in early November. Nawaz Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia when he attempted to return to Pakistan on September 10 after the Supreme Court allowed his homecoming.
President Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in 1999 by ousting Nawaz Sharif, has said that the latter cannot return to Pakistan for another three years as he had signed an agreement to remain in exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
The reason for the contacts between the PML-Q and PML-N, say reports, is to give the latter a 'relatively level playing field in the general election.
Saudi Arabia has also been asking Pakistan to give the Sharif brothers an opportunity to contest the polls. However, the government wanted a slight delay in the return of Nawaz Sharif.
Hussain is among the PML-Q leaders who is believed to have been opposed to the National Reconciliation Ordinance. The ordinance was promulgated by Musharraf to pave the way for a power-sharing arrangement with Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.
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