ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 Kyodo Pakistan ...

ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 Kyodo

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Amin Fahim met with Asif Zardari, husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, at a hospital in Islamabad late Tuesday amid speculation that Zardari might be sent abroad to join his wife in exile.

PPP sources, however, discounted reports that Zardari has been released or was being released and would be sent to Dubai to join Bhutto and their children, who have been living in exile for more than four years.

Fahim met with President Gen Pervez Musharraf at a hilltop restaurant near Islamabad forward Sunday, prompting speculation that he might be tapped as prime minister in a modern civilian government.

The PPP formerly led by Bhutto, has emerg as the secondary largest party in Pakistan's National Assembly following the Oct 10 general elections.

In a telephone interview with Kyodo recents Fahim confirmed that he met Zardari for half an hour at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

Zardari was lately moved from a prison in Attock, about 50 kilometers northwest of Islamabad. Zardari has been in prison for more than six years after being convicted upon corruption charges, which has been cast offed by the PPP as politically motivated.

''I have no comment'' Fahim said when asked about rumors that Zardari might be sent to Dubai.

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