Shabaz also confirmed that he had rejected an earlier offer from Musharraf to make him the prime minister. Although his brother’s hopes of returning to Pakistan had once again been put on hold, Shabaz said he himself had no plans of going it alone and working with Musharraf.

“My position stays the same because when Musharraf offered me to become the prime minister, I rejected the offer without any pause because I always thought military dictators always have a very popular theme in their minds to create split between political parties, leadership, families and that is exactly what he was trying to do with me. Thank God he was unable to achieve his evil design and even today my position is the same.”

Comparing his brother’s experiences with those of Nelson Mandela, Shabaz added, “You have seen Nelson Mandela incarcerated for 28 years in South African prisons during apartheid, but his party was alive, was struggling and made sacrifices of historic dimensions. Today in a different context Nawaz Sharif’s party, despite Musharraf’s wranglings and the brutalities committed by his henchmen, is up and about. Nawaz Sharif’s deportation is a setback, but it is temporary. We will get over this and move on.”

Shabaz also revealed that when his brother was first deported to Saudi Arabia eight years ago, the role of go-between in arranging a safe haven for Nawaz was played by Sa’ad Hariri, a dual Lebanese and Saudi national and the son of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

... contd.