Bhutto, Sharif join hands to drive out Musharraf

LONDON: Former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have planned to return to Pakistan and to jointly drive out the current president, Pervez Musharraf from power. The two exiled leaders met in London last week and agreed to join forces and strike while the iron is hot.

Thousands of their supporters are expected to take to the streets in Pakistan on Monday demonstrating against the President’s decision to sack the country’s chief justice with a rally culminating in Islamabad.

“We have jointly decided to struggle against this military dictatorship and do everything within our means to stop the brutalities Musharraf is committing against institutions in Pakistan,” Sharif said after two-hour talks. He met Bhutto after rumours that she had been holding talks with Musharraf.

“The seriousness of the crisis in Pakistan means that we have formulated a joint strategy to neutralise General Musharraf and to ensure that the next elections are free and fair,” said Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan, the former Pakistani high commissioner to Britain.

“He should go and the army should go back to the barracks,” he added. Shams-ul-Hasan said Bhutto was ready to return to Pakistan and risk imprisonment.