Bhutto wants to return to Pak with Sharif brothers

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has reportedly told exiled ex-Premier Nawaz Sharif that she wanted to return to the Islamic nation along with him before the general elections.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief Bhutto conveyed to Sharif recently that she cherished the desire of returning to Pakistan along with Sharif brothers and not alone, the 'Dawn' reported today, quoting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sources as saying.

For this, Bhutto had been constantly pleading with forces who wanted her to come to some political arrangement with President Pervez Musharraf before the elections slated for later this year, the unnamed sources claimed.

The PPP Chairperson had also urged Sharif to "remove certain misunderstandings" between the two major political parties and keep the recently floated Alliance for Restoration of Democracy intact, at least until the polls.

According to the daily, Bhutto's emissary Rehman Malik last week met Sharif in London to convey her request. However, the PML-N's yet to respond to the PPP's request.

"The PML-N has started withdrawing itself from the democracy alliance as it now wants to keep a minimum liaison with the 30-party coalition to achieve the one-point agenda of removing Musharraf from power," the sources said.

In fact, relations between the two opposition parties strained recently after Bhutto met Musharraf in Abu Dhabi giving rise to speculation that both the leaders had agreed to a power-sharing deal in the upcoming polls.