NEW DELHI - Backdoor diplomacy initiated by Saudi Arabia and the UAE may help ease tensions between Pakistan's military and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with a possibility of a political deal on the horizon, according to sources in political circles, Hindustan Times has reported.
Nawaz Sharif will be in Saudi Arabia over the weekend to meet with Saudi crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman at the request of the Pakistani military high command which wants to avert a head-on collision with the former prime minister. Sharif will be expected to tone down his barbed attacks against the military and in exchange some sort of deal could be in the offing under which Shahbaz Sharif would be given the military's endorsement as the country's next prime minister while Nawaz Sharif would be allowed to retain his position as the president of the ruling PML-N party.
Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz and the chief minister of Punjab, is already on an official visit in Saudi Arabia.
He was nominated for the position of prime minister by Nawaz earlier this month after the possibility of Nawaz being able to run for a fourth term was ruled out by the courts.