No request to allow Musharraf to visit Saudi Arabia received: govt

ISLAMABAD: The government has not received any request from ex-military dictator Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf, seeking permission to visit Saudi Arabia to condole the death of King Abdullah, well-placed sources confided to The News.
Pervez Musharraf’s lawyer had sent an application to the secretary interior, but on a wrong address.Well-placed sources in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Interior Division said as of Saturday neither the PM House nor the interior ministry received any request from Musharraf or any of his lawyers.
The sources also said when no application had been received how a meeting could be held at the PM House or the interior ministry to discuss the issue of giving permission to the dictator barred from leaving the country.
TV channels had aired the news of a meeting at the PM House on Saturday to discuss Musharraf’s exit from Pakistan.
Talking to The News, Ch Faisal Hussain, one of the members of Musharraf’s legal team, who claims to have sent the application, said he had dispatched the application to the Ministry of Interior.
However, the application that has been sent to the Ministry of Interior, a copy available with this correspondent, has been sent to secretary interior in the Cabinet Block whereas the secretary interior sits in the R Block of Pak Secretariat.
Ch Faisal said he had dispatched the application to the Ministry of Interior but if the minister had not received it, he was ready to submit it by hand to the minister.
He said morally the government should permit Pervez Musharraf to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia to condole the death of the king as it won’t be a political visit and in fact would further strengthen Pak-Saudi ties.