Benazir, Sharif agree to fight military jointly

16 September 2003, 18:00 PM

PTI, Islamabad

Former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have reached a tacit understanding not to persecute each other when they return to power in Pakistan and pledged legal action against the military rulers responsible for the coup and subversion of the Constitution.

"The future governments of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) headed by Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), lead by Sharif will register cases against military rulers for imposing martial law and violating Constitution", sources with the Alliance of Restoration Democracy (ARD), in which both the parties were a part, said.

ARD president Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan, who is currently visiting both Sharif and Benazir in their exiles in Jeddah and London, extracted the agreement between the two, local daily The Nation reported yesterday.

The two leaders also agreed to follow a "unanimous" policy on foreign and internal affairs, it said adding, they have agreed to return to Pakistan together to make an "international impact."

While Benazir lived in self exile in London and Dubai to escape prosecution in a number cases registered by Sharif government, which was subsequently overthrown in a military coup by Pervez Musharraf, Sharif and his family have been exiled in Jeddah by the military regime.