LONDON: Former Pakistani Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto held crucial talks here on Thursday on jointly fighting next year's general elections and ousting the military regime of President Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif, heading the Pakistan Muslim league (N) and Bhutto, chief of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), met at the former's London residence to discuss the 'Charter of Democracy' they had signed on May 14 which seeks the restoration of democracy and Constitution in Pakistan.
The meeting comes amid reports of a rift between the two over suspected back-channel contacts between PPP and the government backed by President Pervez Musharraf government for a political rapproachment.
The two former political rivals are expected to clear the air on the reported secret negotiations between Benazir and Musharraf when the general was in London last month.
Prevailing political situation in Pakistan and ways and means of intensifying struggle for restoration of democracy was discussed at their meeting.
Ahead of the talks, the Chief of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), of which both PML-(N) and PPP are members, said that Benazir' party had no contact with Musharraf's government and blamed certain agencies for spreading disinformation to sabotage the alliance.
"Agencies were involved in spreading disinformation to sabotage the alliance that is committed to struggle for restoration of democracy and Constitution in Pakistan," ARD chaiman Mukhdoom Amin Fahim told reporters, a day after holding a meeting with Sharif.
