London, Mar. 3 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief, Nawaz Sharif may have been disqualified by the Supreme Court, but his exclusion from Pakistan's political stage was likely scripted outside the country.

According to the former British high commissioner to Pakistan, Hilary Synnott, the United States and Britain, during the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf, hoped to revive democracy while maintaining Musharraf at the top.

This was the reason why both Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto were urged by both the nations to join hands despite their prolonged hostility.

Synnott, in the latest edition of Survival, the International Institute for Strategic Studies' bimonthly magazine, has claimed that Musharraf was asked to arrange for the criminal charges against Bhutto and her husband to be dropped, and allow her to lead the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the general elections which was scheduled for late 2007.

Synott's article also disclosed that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, would not be allowed to return to Pakistan from his forced exile in Saudi Arabia.

"Sharif, however, would not be allowed to return to Pakistan from his forced exile in Saudi Arabia, which would severely disadvantage his Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan' s only other significant national political party, which might otherwise threaten Bhutto's ascendancy," The News quoted the article, as saying.

The former British envoy feared that the situation in Pakistan may worsen unless greater attention was paid to its challenges.

He also viewed that if Sharif, managed to claim the prime ministerial chair, he would be more cautious than before- about the relationships with the United States and the western world. (ANI)