Former Pakistani Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will
chair an opposition party meeting Wednesday to discuss the
country's political situation, the official Associated Press of
Pakistan (APP) reported Tuesday.
Sharif will chair the Central Working Committee Meeting of the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Lahore, capital of the
eastern Punjab province, the report said.
PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said that the meeting
would also discuss the option of a boycott of the parliamentary
elections, though the party's candidates have filed their
nomination papers for the Jan. 8 polls.
"The PML-N candidates have filed nomination papers for the
National and provincial assemblies as done by other parties," he
said.
However, the decision to participate or not to participate in
the general election would be announced after the All Parties
Democratic Movement meeting, he said.
The APDM, comprising around 30 opposition parties, is expected
to hold a meeting in Lahore Thursday to decide on whether they will
boycott the upcoming general elections.
The secretary general said, "PML-N will fully participate in the
general elections if other parties do so. We will not give an empty
field to others."
Sharif arrived in Lahore on Sunday from Saudi Arabia, ending his
seven-year exile.
Sharif, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, was jailed
when General Pervez Musharraf staged a bloodless coup and seized
power in 1999. He was tried by Anti-Terrorism Courts and sentenced
to life imprisonment for hijacking. The authorities later agreed to
commute his life sentence to exile for 10 years.
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)
