Arms wide open but only for some, says Nawaz Sharif

Under the doctrine of necessity, the PML-N on Tuesday assured PML-Likeminded leaders that the party could accommodate some estranged bedfellows in its fold but Nawaz Sharif told Senator Salim Saifullah point blank that the doors of his party were permanently closed for a few marked men.
Nawaz also said he was not against any institution, but was demanding accountability as it strengthened the institutions by restoring people’s confidence in them. “I want to see a strong military and the demand for accountability is not due to any personal animosity, rather accountability makes the institutions strong,” he said while talking to a delegation of retired military officers in a separate meeting.
The PML-Q Likeminded leaders led by Saifullah called on Nawaz to seek the unification of various factions of the PML. A source privy to the meeting told Pakistan Today that Nawaz gave conditional consent to the PML-Likeminded’s proposal for the unification of PML factions, saying that the PML-N was ready to accommodate some PML-Q leaders who had never been Musharraf’s close aides, but that the party’s doors were permanently closed for people like the Chaudhrys and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
“Nawaz told Likeminded leaders that the PML-N would not forge an alliance with any faction of the Muslim League as it considered all factions of the PML such as PML-Q, PML-Zia and Awami Muslim League just breakaway factions of the PML-N formed on the behest of a military dictator to damage the PML-N,” said the source. Another source in the PML-Likeminded said that Nawaz had also expressed reservations with the Likeminded bloc’s chairman Hamid Nasir Chattha and its steering committee’s chairman Khurshid Kasuri.
“Nawaz told Saifullah that all leaders of the PML-Likeminded were not acceptable to the PML-N. Nawaz also told Likeminded leaders that he would not do any deal with the Muttahida Muslim League (MML), rather take decisions on a case-to-case basis,” said the source.