Mush failed to split Sharif family

Islamabad: A top aide of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had reportedly approached Shahbaz Sharif for "a deal" that excluded his elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, but failed to split the Sharif family.

Former Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, was not willing to walk into his political parlour, said a news report.

Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf had ousted in 1999, has meanwhile launched a mass contact programme, using the telephone to speak to a wide range of people back home as part of his plans to return in time for the parliamentary polls, The Nation newspaper said.

On the other hand, The News International quoted "one of the top unofficial aides" of Musharraf to say that Shahbaz Sharif had been approached for "a deal" that would allow him to return home with his immediate family, but clearly excluding elder brother Nawaz.

The contact was made last month through one Brig Niaz (Retd). Besides wanting to split the Sharif family, the government quarters want to play on two sentiments of Shahbaz.

For one, that he had arrived with his family in 2004 to Lahore but was packed off the same evening. He was told that the entire Sharif family had signed a 10-year pact to stay in exile when they were allowed safe passage to Saudi Arabia and must abide by it. Sharif has denied any such deal.

The government thinks he could be persuaded to return this time.

The other reason is that Nawaz has got active in his comeback plans. Shahbaz is chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), but Nawaz remains its Qaid (the founder-patron).

That their father, Mian Mohammed Sharif, is no more is also supposed to be a factor that separates the two brothers, the newspaper said.

The government wants to play on the alleged sibling rivalry. Shahbaz has a politically ambitious new wife, Tehmina Durrani, who wants Shahbaz to go his way.

Emissaries of Musharraf are also keeping options open with Benazir Bhutto, the other exiled former premier. The newspaper says that if Bhutto aligns with Musharraf, she would have to rival Shahbaz, not Nawaz. The report does not explain the logic of this argument.

The Nation newspaper, in a report from London says Nawaz is very much in touch with Bhutto and the two met on October 19.

In Germany with his family on a brief holiday, Nawaz has begun to "address" political rallies back home. He had been busy meeting his party men last month ahead of his high profile meeting with Bhutto.

The reported meeting comes in the wake of reports that the Charter of Democracy the two signed in May this year has been a non-starter after the government succeeded in dividing the opposition on a number of issues.