FAISALABAD, Dec 16: Inviting Gen Pervez Musharraf (retired) to the wedding ceremony of his son three years back has cost Raja Nadir Pervez Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket for NA-85, sources privy to party affairs told Dawn on Sunday.

The sources said after reports that he was going to be replaced by Haji Akram Ansari for the NA-85 constituency, Raja solicited a meeting with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif which took place at Raiwind on Saturday.

At the meeting Raja bemoaned the treatment meted out to him quite recently. He told the former prime minister how the government compelled him to change his political affiliations through various pressure tactics, which, he claimed, he had been enduring with patience and determination for the past nine years.

The sources said though Sharif remained unaffected by to the sordid tale Raja told him, he promised him a Senate ticket in recognition of his services for the party. Sharif also went to the main gate of his residence to see his ‘stalwart’ off in a bid to ‘pacify’ him so that he might not harm the party in its electioneering.

Raja is a retired major of Pakistan army and a veteran of the 1965 Indo-Pak war. He still commands great respect among army’s servicemen. His friendship with Pervez Musharraf dates back to 1954 when they were grade-VIII classmates at Cadet College, Hasanabdal. Both of them later joined Pakistan army where Raja was, however, one course senior to Musharraf at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. Both developed a strong bond of companionship, which went through thick and thin and completed its golden jubilee around three years ago. It was perhaps that time when Raja Nadir Pervez extended an invitation to his chum, President General Pervez Musharraf, to attend the wedding ceremony of his son,

Waqar Nadir Pervez, in Islamabad, which the then army chief not only candidly accepted..

According to the sources, inviting a general who overthrew Sharif’s government by a staunch party leader to his son’s wedding ceremony had perhaps annoyed the deposed prime minister and he took a strong exception to it.

During the Saturday’s meeting with Sharif, Nadir asked the party leader that whether depriving him of the ticket was a ‘reward’ for the services he had rendered during past several years for the PML-N.

“Despite lucrative offers made by the government and family pressures, I did not budge and remained loyal to the party,” the sources quoted Raja as informing Sharif.

“It was easy for me to hold some position in the government as scores of my party fellows did, but my conscience did not allow it and I simply refused every offer,” the sources quoted Raja as having said.

“My political commitment jolted my family relations leading to serious internal differences which strained the family ties in a way that we are no more on talking terms even,” he concluded.

Sharif, however, remained tight-lipped in response to Raja’s ‘pricking’ statements. “I am unable to award you (Raja) a party ticket because I have made a commitment with someone else,” the sources quoted former prime minister as communicating his decision to Raja.

The sources said it was the former mayor and close relative of Sharif, Sher Ali, who clued-up former premier about Raja’s inviting the general to the wedding ceremony of his son and insisted on his replacement. Sher moved Sharif that Raja should be made to explain as to why he invited to his family function a man who had toppled the PML-N government on Oct 12, 1999.

Raja is brother-in-law of Lt Gen Tariq Pervez (retired), who was court-martialled for meeting the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, without seeking permission from the then chief of army staff Gen Pervez Musharraf. Lt Gen Tariq was Quetta’s corps commander at that time.

Despite Gen Tariq’s court martial, Raja did not part his ways with the party and continued to work. However, his personal relations and amity with Gen Musharraf continued to stride and flourish steadily.

Raja also supported PML-N candidate Shahzad Malik during the local bodies elections for the Jinnah Town nazim’s slot when his nephew, Raja Adnan Tariq, the son of Gen Tariq, was vying for the same slot. Because of Raja, the sources said, Shehzad Malik and his brother and former MPA Nawaz Malik were still with the party.

Political circles say that Raja is disgruntled over the decision of his party leadership for dropping him from their National Assembly aspirants’ squad. They say that Raja neither accepted the decision nor he will be ready to support Ansari in his campaigning.

The sources said that disappointment of Raja could be inferred from the fact that he skived the party meeting where ticket was being awarded to Akram Ansari. “Had he been satisfied with the decision, he would have attended the meeting,” the sources added.

Scores of union council nazims loyal to Raja are likely to stay away from the electioneering to show solidarity with him.

A nazim of a union council falling in NA-85, who wished not to be named, said: “How we could keep trusting a party which replaced a committed and brave person?” Lauding Raja’s efforts, the nazim said he taught us how to fight against dictators and tolerate hardships. “The decision has shattered our confidence and we will not support Akram Ansari and Khawaja Islam,” he added.

A local PML-N leader, Mian Manan Ahmed, however, dispelled the impression that Raja was refused party ticket for his inviting Gen Musharraf to the wedding ceremony of his son. He claimed that Sharif had awarded Ansari party ticket only after obtaining Raja’s consent. He, however, admitted that rifts among local leadership might be a driving force behind Raja’s sidelining.

PML-N central leaders Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Ahsan Iqbal were not available for their comment.