London - Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said he could return home to his native country from exile in Saudi Arabia as soon as next week following talks about his role between President Pervez Musharraf and Saudi leaders. Sharif, in an interview with the Financial Times in London published Wednesday, said that his return to Pakistan had been high on the agenda in talks between Saudi government leaders and General Musharraf in Riyadh on Tuesday.
"The Saudi authorities are quite keen to take this matter forward with Musharraf," Sharif said. "And to my knowledge I know Musharraf is in Saudi Arabia to discuss my return to Pakistan."
According to Saudi sources cited by the newspaper, the kingdom favours an understanding between Musharraf and both opposition leaders: Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.
The position differs significantly from that of the US, which had has sought to keep Sharif out of the picture, the paper said.
The Saudis were convinced that the exiled leader was needed if stability was to be restored in Pakistan, according to the kingdom's officials.
Sharif said he had been in close contact with the Saudi royal family, which he said was pushing for his return to Pakistan by the November 26 deadline to register for the January 8 parliamentary elections.
