Saudis asked Musharraf for Nawaz arrest , WikiLeaks

WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabian government had asked the Musharraf government for arrest of Nawaz Sharif for his breach of the terms of exile, a cable leaked by the whistle-blower WikkiLeaks said.Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir in the diplomatic cable of November 2007 told Michael Joe Fueller that, "We in Saudi Arabia are not observers in Pakistan, we are participants."During the meal, Ambassador al-Jubeir said that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Saudi Arabia, today, November 20, and will meet with King Abdullah, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, and head of the General Intelligence Presidency Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz after he completes Umra in Mecca. He noted that Musharraf will meet with the Foreign Minister and Prince Muqrin first and thereafter see King Abdullah sometime in the evening. "The purpose of these meetings," said al-Jubeir, "is to get a readout of the situation and present our point of view to him."Al-Jubeir denied that Musharraf had come to the Kingdom to meet with exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, although he carefully avoided ruling out such a meeting.

Instead, he boldly asserted that, "We in Saudi Arabia are not observers in Pakistan, we are participants." He asserted that the Saudi government had offered Sharif a pledge of protection and asylum in the Kingdom after his ouster by Musharraf in return for a promise that he would refrain from political activity for ten years. He added that Sharif had begun to attempt to test the limits of this promise five or six years in his exile. "Sharif broke his promise by conducting political activity while in the Kingdom," al-Jubeir charged. He added that when the Saudi government had permitted Sharif to travel to London, he first promised the Saudis not to engage in political activity or return to Pakistan, but he then flew to Pakistan from London in a direct violation of his commitment.Al-Jubeir expressed considerable "disappointment" in Sharif's broken pledges to the SAG. He stated very clearly that the Saudis worked directly with Musharraf to have Sharif arrested on his return to Pakistan and immediately deported to the Kingdom. "We told Musharraf that we would receive him back and then keep him here as an 'honored guest'," al-Jubeir said. He added that Prince Muqrin had been the SAG's point man in restraining Sharif. Prince Muqrin was allowed to reveal the terms of Sharif's asylum agreement, he noted. Al-Jubeir made it very clear that the Saudi government would seek to control Sharif's movements in the future.

Al-Jubeir added that he sees neither Sharif nor former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a viable replacement for Musharraf. "With all his flaws," he said of Musharraf, "he is the only person that you or we have to work with now." Al-Jubeir added that for the Saudis, stability in Pakistan is an essential strategic matter. Since Pakistan possesses both nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles, from the Saudi point of view, the policy choice to be made there boils down to a drastic choice: "We can either support Musharraf and stability, or we can allow bin Laden to get the bomb, "he told.