Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf will tomorrow visit Saudi Arabia where he is expected to discuss with the ruler the possible return to Pakistan of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

No direct meeting between Musharraf and Sharif, who is currently living in exile in Jeddah, is planned, Dawn News channel quoted official sources as saying.

Musharraf will hold talks with King Abdullah bin Abd-al-Aziz Abdullah in Riyadh and Sharif's return to Pakistan might figure in their talks, the sources said.

Political circles in Pakistan have been abuzz with speculation for the past week about a visit to Saudi Arabia by Musharraf as part of efforts to establish contacts with Sharif to find a way out of the political crisis in the country.

Sharif, who was deposed by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, went into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000 in exchange for the dropping of a prison term handed down to him.

Though Sharif's homecoming was cleared by the Supreme Court earlier this year, he was deported back to Saudi Arabia hours after he flew into Islamabad on September 10.

Reports have suggested that the Saudi government has been pressuring Musharraf to allow Sharif to return ahead of the general election in January.
Last week, Sharif said Pakistan's military regime had sent him feelers for a possible meeting with Musharraf.

He said he had turned down the proposal as there is "no room for talks" with the military ruler. Musharraf and the ruling PML-Q have turned to Sharif's PML-N party after former premier Benazir Bhutto snapped talks with the General on a possible power-sharing arrangement following the imposition of emergency on November 3.

Source : PTI