Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman on Wednesday denied "nonsense" reports that the military ruler had met exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman on Wednesday denied "nonsense" reports that the military ruler had met exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif during a trip to Saudi Arabia.
Musharraf returned earlier in the day from an overnight stay in the kingdom, where he met King Abdullah and other Saudi leaders to discuss bilateral ties and security issues.
Saudi Arabia is also the home in exile of opposition leader Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, but Musharraf's spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi dismissed reports that they had met.
"It was a bilateral visit and there was absolutely no desire on the part of the president to meet Sharif. Reports in the media regarding their meeting are sheer nonsense," Qureshi told.
"This was pure fabrication by the media, the president had no such intentions," he said.
"When he was leaving for Saudi Arabia he never had any desire or any intention to meet Sharif."
Musharraf, whose talks on a possible power-sharing deal with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto recently broke down, was reported to be exploring a possibility of a patch-up with bitter rival Sharif.
The Pakistani ruler deported Sharif in September when he flew back to Islamabad.
Sharif said on Monday night that Musharraf had called him three times since then to seek a meeting but that he had rejected his request because he opposed the state of emergency imposed in Pakistan on November 3.
"Unless he rolls back what he did on November 3, reverses that, there is no point in meeting him," Sharif told.
A Pakistani diplomatic source in Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that Musharraf wanted the kingdom to press Sharif to "refrain from carrying out any political activities and talking to the press about the situation in Pakistan."
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