There have been several rumours about a deal being worked out between the army n shahbaz…i think hes capable of persuading the opposition to peacefully attend Musharraf’s speech to the joint-session!
Hes been a great chief minister of Punjab, eventhough his brother was corrupt!
heres a report i read in the Khaleed Times
Deal struck for Shahbaz return: report
From our correspondent
21 May 2003
LAHORE - The government, through some men in uniform, is said to have struck a deal with Mian Shahbaz Sharif under which the former chief minister of Punjab and president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (N) may return to Pakistan in June, according to a report in local daily Times.
Quoting its sources, the report said that talks were also under way with leaders of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians. Some ‘government men’ are “negotiating with Asif Ali Zardari”.
The report said the government and the Sharifs had been negotiating for some time but a meeting between Shahbaz Sharif and a uniformed ‘big shot’ in a New York hotel a couple of weeks ago proved decisive.
“The man in uniform sought Shahbaz’s cooperation for President Musharraf’s address to a joint session of parliament, the resolution of the LFO issue and Pakistan-India talks, in return reportedly offering him ‘safe passage’ to Pakistan, chairmanship of the greater Muslim League and a major slot in a future government.”
The paper quoting its sources said: “When Shahbaz raised the point about the return of the rest of the Sharif family from Saudi Arabia, he was told that there was no room for Nawaz Sharif in national politics.”
The sources claimed that Mian Shahbaz agreed to the offer after which the emissary informed President Musharraf about the ‘breakthrough’.
The day after the New York meeting, there were banners in Lahore heralding Mr Shahbaz’s return.
The sources also told the paper that the president felt none of the available leaders in Pakistan could help the present government out of the political crisis; therefore he wanted some of the exiled leaders back.
They added Mian Shahbaz realised (after spending several months in the US) that the president had done well in the war against terrorism and, therefore, it would be pointless to wait to see him go.
It may be mentioned that the entire family of Mian Shahbaz is still in Pakistan, despite the government’s claims on several occasions that they would fly back to Saudi Arabia ‘soon’.
Our correspondent in Islamabad adds: Shahbaz Sharif has indicated he might return to Pakistan towards the end of June or in July despite constraints placed on him in an agreement between the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The PML (N) president told the English-language daily Dawn in an interview that he hoped that Saudi government would have no objection to his return unless the political and military rulers of Pakistan created any hurdle.
He regretted that government of his brother, Mian Nawaz Sharif, had forced Benazir Bhutto to live in exile to avoid corruption cases against her.
He disclosed that he had advised his brother not to take extreme actions against Benazir.
He conceded for the first time that there was a detailed understanding between the Saudi government and his family which barred his return to Pakistan for 10 years.
Nevertheless, he insisted: “There was emotional blackmail. I was forced out of my country against my wishes by the powers that be.”
He added: “They said that if I don’t agree to leave, then my family would suffer in Pakistan, but I resisted leaving the country till the last minute.”
However, Mian Shahbaz also acknowledged that the Saudi government would object to his plans to return if the Pakistani government said no.
“I am not looking at that scenario at all.”
Mian Shahbaz, who is recovering after a cancer operation said that as soon as the doctors gave him a go-ahead, he would leave New York for Pakistan.
“I want to go back to my country sooner than later. I want to be with my loved ones, my people and want to pass the rest of my life there,” he said.
When pressed about the deal that his family accepted from the Saudi government, Mr Sharif quoted African leader Nelson Mandela who observed in his memoirs, “You cannot expect a deal from a prisoner. He cannot negotiate.”
Responding to allegations about loot and plunder levelled against his family by the military government and politicians like former president Farooq Ahmed Leghari, he said:
“If they want to arrest me, let them do so. But there is no conviction against me, no case of corruption, no charges of shady deals against me personally.”
Asked to explain his government’s incarceration of Asif Ali Zardari, he said: “In Asif Zardari’s case we did not jail him. It was President Leghari who had jailed him.”
As for forcing Benazir Bhutto into exile, he at first said on record: “Let me reveal this secret to you. I tried to counsel my brother, the prime minister and Saifur Rehman (in charge of the accountability cell) against going after Bhutto, but then he went off the record while giving details, saying he did not want to offend anyone.”
Similarly, when asked to reflect on his family’s Raiwind estate which was presented as evidence by the military government in charging the Sharif family with looting the country, he hedged the question, saying “In principle I am against big houses. They were built by my father and brother with their own money.”
But he defended construction of a highway into Raiwind estate during his tenure, insisting it was done only after the big Trust Hospital - Sharif Complex - which also housed a school had been built there.
“That was essential to provide the people of Pakistan with latest technology in heart, lung and kidney transplants,” he said.
When asked to state his position on the Legal Framework Order, Mian Shahbaz, who has been calling for a government of national reconciliation to restore democracy, said: "I believe that the constitution of the country must be held supreme in the national interest.
“This is a transitional period. The transfer of power to the civilian government is still going on, and political parties should show flexibility in reaching an agreement with the treasury benches.”
He said that political parties should move forward to build the country.
“There should be national reconciliation to save democracy and they should stop looking up to GHQ for changes every time problems occur.”
Granting that the PML was as guilty as other parties in looking up to the army to change governments in the past, Mian Shahbaz suggested that “all political parties should take an oath never to seek intervention from the army. We should move forward and in the next 10 years change the destiny and course of the country.”
On the army’s role in government, he said this was ‘a difficult question’, but added:
“We should learn lessons from the past and create a mechanism to slowly put the army back in the barracks and leave it to its fundamental role as defender of the country’s borders.”
Source: Khaleej Times