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Nawaz returns, vows to contest elections
 Former premier Muhammad Nawaz Sharif returned to the country on Sunday after eight years of exile and vowed to contest the general elections. Talking to reporters after arriving in Lahore from Medina at 6.25pm, he said all decisions regarding participation in polls would be made on the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM)s platform.He said the APDM would participate in the elections if Gen Musharraf withdrew the emergency declaration he issued on November 3 and released opposition members who had been jailed. Everything that was done must be reversed and drawn back completely, he said. You must have a level playing field for fair elections. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would never welcome turncoats, adding that he wanted to unite the PML and the PML-N. No deal: He said he had made no deal with President General Pervez Musharraf. I havent met any Pakistani government functionary over the last eight years, although there were a lot of overtures from the Pakistani side to meet me and to talk to me, he said. He said he has not changed his position on Musharraf, He is not a legitimate president of the country. I do not accept that, not at all. He said he had refused recent attempts by Gen Musharraf to meet him in Saudi Arabia because the two men are poles apart. The PML-N chief said there was no question to him ever agreeing to a power-sharing deal with Gen Musharraf as president and himself as prime minister. A spokesman for Gen Musharraf told CNN on Sunday that there was no agreement or understanding with Nawaz. Posted by: Fred 2007-11-26 |
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