Spring Onion
PDF VETERAN
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 41,403
- Reaction score
- 19
- Country
- Location
Musharraf to visit Saudi on Tuesday (tomorrow)
RIYADH, Nov 19, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks with King Abdullah, the official SPA news agency reported on Monday.
Musharraf's trip to Saudi Arabia, the exile home of former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, will be his first abroad since he imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan on November 3.
"He will be going for a bilateral trip to discuss economic cooperation and security isues. No meeting with Sharif is on the agenda," a senior Pakistani government official said.
The announcement came after Pakistan's top court dismissed five of six challenges to Musharraf's re-election as president, edging him closer to a victory that could help end the country's political crisis.
Musharraf and Abdullah will discuss "ways of boosting bilateral relations" as well as "regional and international issues of common concern," SPA said, adding that the Pakistani leader will also perform the umrah, or smaller Muslim pilgrimage, in Mecca.
Musharraf, who is a close US ally in the "war on terror" but is under international pressure to end emergency rule, has close ties with oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
He has said he will quit as army chief and become a civilian ruler once Pakistan's Supreme Court has fully validated his victory in a presidential election last month.
Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia, where he had lived for several years, when he tried to return to Pakistan in September, vowing to ignite a popular campaign to oust Musharraf.
The two-time premier was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup. He was sentenced to life in prison for tax evasion and treason but was released in December 2000 on condition that he and his family live in exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
But Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled in August that they could fly back home. AFP
RIYADH, Nov 19, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks with King Abdullah, the official SPA news agency reported on Monday.
Musharraf's trip to Saudi Arabia, the exile home of former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, will be his first abroad since he imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan on November 3.
"He will be going for a bilateral trip to discuss economic cooperation and security isues. No meeting with Sharif is on the agenda," a senior Pakistani government official said.
The announcement came after Pakistan's top court dismissed five of six challenges to Musharraf's re-election as president, edging him closer to a victory that could help end the country's political crisis.
Musharraf and Abdullah will discuss "ways of boosting bilateral relations" as well as "regional and international issues of common concern," SPA said, adding that the Pakistani leader will also perform the umrah, or smaller Muslim pilgrimage, in Mecca.
Musharraf, who is a close US ally in the "war on terror" but is under international pressure to end emergency rule, has close ties with oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
He has said he will quit as army chief and become a civilian ruler once Pakistan's Supreme Court has fully validated his victory in a presidential election last month.
Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia, where he had lived for several years, when he tried to return to Pakistan in September, vowing to ignite a popular campaign to oust Musharraf.
The two-time premier was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup. He was sentenced to life in prison for tax evasion and treason but was released in December 2000 on condition that he and his family live in exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
But Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled in August that they could fly back home. AFP