Sharif warns Bhutto against deal with Musharraf

Pakistan8217;s exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has warned another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, against cutting a deal with embattled President Pervez Musharraf, saying it would dent her credibility.

Pakistan8217;s exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has warned another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, against cutting a deal with embattled President Pervez Musharraf, saying it would dent her credibility.

Musharraf, who is facing a deepening political crisis as he prepares to seek a second term in office, met Bhutto in Abu Dhabi last month in an effort to forge a power-sharing deal. But Sharif, ousted by Musharraf in a military coup in 1999, described the meeting as a setback and urged Bhutto to break off contacts with Musharraf.

8220;Musharraf is a drowning man at this stage, he has no options left. I hate to say this but I think he is like a sinking ship,8221; Sharif said in an interview with NDTV aired on Thursday. 8220;Anybody who cuts a deal with Musharraf at this stage would damage his own credibility and I don8217;t want to damage my credibility,8221; he said in the interview conducted in Dubai.

Sharif said Bhutto should give up contacts with the government and return to the ranks of the opposition.

8220;She must come back and join the struggle for restoration of democracy, join the struggle for pushing the Army back into the barracks and join the struggle for banning the entry of generals into politics because this has done great harm.8221;

Musharraf sent Sharif and his family to Saudi Arabia in 2000 under, what the government says, was an agreement that they would stay in exile for 10 years.

Sharif denies any deal with Musharraf and has vowed to return to take part in the elections. He has also petitioned the Supreme Court seeking instructions for the government to lift restrictions on his return. Sharif8217;s younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who is also a politician, tried to return home after a SC ruling that he could in 2004 but the government deported him to Saudi Arabia hours after he landed.

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The recently reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is heading a panel hearing Sharif8217;s petition, on Thursday said the court ruling on Shahbaz was still valid and he could not be legally kept out of the country.