Nawaz Sharif skips meeting with Japanese ambassador

Lahore: Pakistan`s Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif excused himself from a meeting with the Japanese ambassador, with officials of his PML-N party saying he had become selective about meetings with foreign dignitaries because of his busy schedule. The Japanese envoy came from Islamabad to Sharif`s residence at Raiwind in Lahore yesterday to congratulate him on the PML-N`s victory in the May 11 polls. Sharif asked his close aide Ishaq Dar to meet Ambassador Hiroshi Oe, a PML-N insider said. The insider told a news agency that Sharif would only meet ambassadors of selected countries and would not meet all the foreign dignitaries coming to congratulate him. After his party emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament, Sharif has spent a lot of time on the issue of forming the government at the centre and on fine-tuning a programme to deal with Pakistan’s pressing problems like a crippling energy crisis and the moribund economy. PTI