(AKI/DAWN) Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf has said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would not return before the general elections in January. According to the Pakistani daily Dawn, Musharraf said the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its allies were in a position to win the elections and the next prime minister would be from the PML.Addressing about 170 legislators of the party, including federal ministers, the president said: “You have been supporting me for the last five years and you will not be disappointed by me in the days to come. I am with you and it is my heartiest desire that you win elections and form the government.”
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed attended the dinner held at the prime minister's residence. Qari Gul Rahman, a dissident with the six-party religious alliance MMA, and Shahabuddin Khan of the Awami National Party, who voted for Musharraf in the presidential election, were also at the dinner.
The president denied reports that the local bodies would be dissolved before the polls on the demand of certain parties. He said the reconciliation process had been initiated to end the tug of war between political parties and it was proceeding well, the minister of state for information, Tariq Azeem told Dawn.
Musharraf also said that foreign experts would not be involved in the investigation of the 18 October blasts in Karachi which targetted former premier Benazir Bhutto. “Our own experts are competent enough to undertake this task and they have done it in the past.” He also rejected speculation that foreign troops would be allowed to intrude into Pakistan’s tribal areas to attack militants.
Prime minister Aziz congratulated the president on winning the election and said that even if opposition parties had participated in the process, Musharraf would have polled the same 57 percent votes of the electoral college.
Earlier, the president had an informal meeting with some senior members of the PML, including Baluchistan chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf and Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim Khan. He discussed with them the electoral strategy, petitions pending in the Supreme Court, security situation and the formation of an interim set-up, sources said.