Saudis deny take-Musharraf plan

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has denied it has a plane waiting to take former president Pervez Musharraf to the Muslim kingdom, a press report said on Tuesday, amid speculation Riyadh could offer him asylum. The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, Ali Awad Esseiri, said media reports that was a Saudi plane was in Islamabad ready to transport Musharraf were "baseless claims" and "media lies", Okaz newspaper reported.

"Saudi Arabia has been and continues to look out for the security, stability and sovereignty of Pakistan and will not interfere in its internal affairs," he was quoted as saying.

Saudi's intelligence chief was in Pakistan at the weekend for talks with the government over the political crisis over Musharraf, who resigned on Monday to avoid an impeachment battle.

In Pakistan, officials from both the ruling coalition and the security services said that in the wake of his resignation Musharraf would travel to close ally Saudi Arabia in the coming days to perform Umra.

A senior coalition official told AFP that Musharraf would then head for asylum in London or Turkey, but his aides insisted he would return after his religious duties in the ultra-conservative Gulf state.

Saudi newspapers raised questions over the future of Pakistan, a country with which Riyadh has held close ties.

"Will Musharraf's departure lead to a cooling down in Pakistan and more stability in the country or will it just be another passing phase?" Okaz wrote in a commentary.

"What interests Pakistan's allies, especially Saudi Arabia, after the resignation of Musharraf is the stability of the country," said Al-Watan.

Saudi Arabia, whose law allows for political asylum in public interest cases, granted asylum to former premier Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf and sent into exile in 2000 before returning home last November.

Uganda's ex-president Idi Amin spent more than two decades in exile in the oil-rich kingdom until his death in 2003.