[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reportedly felt fairly miffed when informed at the eleventh hour that the until recently extremely healthy Mian Nawaz Sharif would be missing out on the COAS security briefing 'due to bad health'. It may be recalled that the Chief of the Army Staff, General Parvez Kayani had been invited by the prime minister on Friday to give a detailed in-camera briefing to the entire parliamentary political leadership on the overall security situation and the pending Waziristan operation in particular.The rather implausible 'bad health condition' excuse was said to have found no takers because only a day before this critical security briefing by top military bosses to the top political leadership of the country, a smiling and cheerful Nawaz Sharif had come all the way from Lahore to address a press conference at the Punjab House Islamabad to convey his "serious reservations" over the Kerry-Lugar Bill. However, the PML-N Quaid went back to Lahore the same evening even though he had been invited to attend the extremely important briefing.
One source said that PM Gilani who has always taken pride in bringing together both politicians and khakis on critical national issues was extremely disappointed by the inexplicable absence of Nawaz Sharif.
Knowledgeable sources claimed that Nawaz Sharif probably did not want to be viewed as having personally and directly endorsed full military action against the Taliban in a particular operation such as the Waziristan operation and particularly so at a time when the Taliban had already started vengeful strikes in different parts of the country.
The sources said JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was also found missing from the briefing almost on the same grounds, as he had taken a flight to Turkey a day before this meeting, so as he too was not seen on television cameras listening to the briefing by the chief of army staff getting approval to launch attacks on Taliban in Waziristan. The sources said the absence of Nawaz was felt acutely because in the past at least on two similar occasions when the top military leadership was invited to give briefing to the politicians, PML-N leader had ensured his presence in the Prime Minister House to interact with the military command. Though Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Nisar Ali Khan were present in the meeting, their top leader's absence was viewed by relevant circles in a different light.
Talking to this correspondent Imran Gardezi, the press secretary to prime minister, confirmed that Nawaz Sharif had been invited to the briefing but he did not come. "We were told that Nawaz Sharif was not well", Imran said. However, he refused to give replies to some other questions.
Meanwhile, giving the background information forcing Nawaz to go "under ground" for a few months, the sources said, these days Nawaz was passing through difficult times and was trying to avoid many important issues and situations for obvious reasons. The illness of Shahbaz Sharif was also a cause of serious worry for Nawaz as he was once again summoned by his doctors in London to get serious about his medication and treatment for a long time. Earlier, scarred by the embarrassing fact of him accepting funds from ISI, he was then reportedly told by the Saudi King Abdullah to not to participate in the bye elections in Pakistan, as a part of his deal with Musharraf and not to take part in politics for ten years.
In his absence, Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government hurriedly moved a petition in the court to get the elections delayed to give a valid excuse to Nawaz for not contesting the elections. The court stay order saved Sharif from embarrassment. However, this move further gave currency to the reports that Nawaz was put under pressure by his mighty Saudi benefactors not to contest the elections. Nawaz then had to come all the way from Lahore to address the media speculations over his long silence over Kerry-Lugar Bill.
The sources said Nawaz was also unhappy when he faced a hostile question during his press conference at Punjab House that on the one hand he had been championing the cause of the Charter of Democracy and on the other his brother Shabaz and opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan had been holding late night secret meetings with the Chief of Army Staff General Kayani. However, a smart politician in Nawaz instantly gave a new spin to this troubling question by making a comment that "if the meeting with COAS was held to discuss the security issues, then it should have been held in day light."
His reply to the media persons gave an idea to the listener as both Shahbaz and Nisar had held the secret meeting with COAS without his knowledge and consent and Nawaz Sharif like all of us too came to know about this late night meeting through the media. But, a PML-N source said this was not true as Nawaz Sharif was properly consulted before the meeting with COAS even about the timing of the meeting and only after his nod, Shahbaz and Nisar had gone all the way to GHQ to hold a late night meeting with the chief of army staff.
Talking to The News, Senator Pervez Rashid said that PML-N leader was not feeling well because of shoulder pain so he stayed away from this briefing. He said Nawaz Sharif wanted to attend the briefing but the pain forced him to send his regrets. Pervez Rashid further clarified that we needed to understand that there was no major difference in the policies and approaches of top PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif, Ch Nisar Ali Khan and Nawaz Sharif, so if they attended the meeting, it meant that the whole party leadership was represented there.