Sharif pleads with Benazir not to tie-up with Musharraf

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has requested Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Benazir Bhutto not to get into any power-sharing deal with President General Pervez Musharraf, saying his regime is destroying institutions of the country.

Lahore, May 14 : Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has requested Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief Benazir Bhutto not to get into any power-sharing deal with President General Pervez Musharraf, saying his regime is destroying institutions of the country.

Expressing concern over the reported ongoing negotiations between former Prime Minister Bhutto and Musharraf, he said it would be a major blow for the country if the two came to any power-sharing agreement.

"She told me we're not cutting any deal with the government, but in interviews she has said, 'Yes, there are talks going on'. I'm pleading with her not to go down that road," the Daily Times quoted Sharif, as telling The Sunday Times in an interview.

"I hope and pray we don't talk to people who are destroying the institutions of the country," he added.

The two former Pakistan Prime Ministers are apparently headed for a parting of ways in the wake of the reported deal with the Musharraf regime to facilitate Bhutto's return to Pakistan after a decade of self-exile.

However, PPP Deputy Secretary General Senator Raza Rabbani has categorically rejected reports of a power-sharing deal, but admitted to backdoor contacts between Musharraf and Bhutto.

This, according to reports, has widened the gulf between Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

ANI