RIYADH, Feb 10: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied by Senator Farooq Naik, visited ex-premier Nawaz Sharif at his residence in Jeddah on Thursday morning.

Ms Bhutto expressed her condolences to the Sharif family over Mian Mohammad Sharif's demise.

Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif also discussed the political situation in Pakistan and maintained that the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the Pakistan People's Party, as country's major democratic parties, shared great responsibility for taking the country out of the present crisis.

The two sides reiterated that real democracy and 1973 Constitution must be restored as soon as possible through fair, free and transparent elections under an independent and effective Election Commission.

Both sides agreed to cooperate and work at every level to achieve this goal.

Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif affirmed their faith in the collective will of the people and assured them that they would make a fresh start for ushering in a new era of democracy based on mutual respect, tolerance and human rights, protecting rights of women, minorities and under-privileged and promoting prosperity of all people without discrimination.

They resolved that they would not act in any way that would help non-democratic forces to negate the 1973 Constitution and deprive the people of their democratic rights.

They further resolved to continue the struggle for the supremacy of parliament with federal parliamentary character, independence of judiciary, rule of law, freedom of media and the will of the people.

They called upon all the political forces in the country to agree on a 'Charter of Democracy' which should become the cornerstone for an end to dictatorships for all times to come and differences on policies and other issues should be set aside for achieving this common and universal goal.

Both sides agreed to form working groups to outline specific measures and reforms for implementing the charter of democracy.

Later, Mr Sharif hosted a luncheon in honour of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari, which was joined by his family members. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Capt Safdar and Ahsan Iqbal were present on the occasion.

Mr Sharif reportedly congratulated Mr Zardari on his release from prison.

Ms Bhutto was to leave for Makkah on Thursday afternoon to perform Umrah. After offering Friday prayers in Makkah, she was expected back in Jeddah. There is a possibility that the two former prime ministers could meet again late on Friday afternoon.

Although there had been some reports suggesting that Ms Bhutto had seen Mr Sharif when she was last in Jeddah in 2002, yet both sides emphasised there was no meeting between the two then. Hence, Thursday's meeting could be the first after Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1998 and Mr Sharif's government toppled in October 1999.

MS Bhutto reached Jeddah late Wednesday evening on board a Saudi Arabian Airlines regular flight from Dubai. She was expected to stay in the kingdom for three days.

According to sources close to her, she would go to Madina either on Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Ms Bhutto had specially summoned Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians' President Makhdoom Amin Fahim from Pakistan to Dubai for consultations prior to her departure to Saudi Arabia.

Though the two sides were not ready to divulge much, the two former prime ministers would apparently be further discussing means to strengthen cooperation between Mr Sharif's PML-N and Ms Bhutto's PPP, during their parleys late on Friday.

The Sharif-Bhutto talks are expected to centre on ways to invigorate the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, of which their parties are major components, sources here said.

They would also deliberate on the extent of ARD's cooperation with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal which seems to be holding back because the PPP wants to maintain a convenient distance from the religious parties.

Sources disclosed that the former premiers would seek to give a direction to their future political relations and to evolve a common political strategy.

Amir Wasim from Islamabad adds: PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said in the meeting of Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif a committee, comprising senators Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abassi from the PPP and Senator Ishaq Dar and former MNA Ahsan Iqbal from the PML-N, was formed to identify minimum democratic agenda to be followed by the two parties for the restoration of democracy.

He said Mr Sharif briefed Ms Bhutto on his recent meetings with MMA leaders Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Jeddah.

Meanwhile, the sources said the PPP and the PML-N chiefs made a firm resolve that the two parties would not repeat past mistakes and cooperate with each other to foil the designs of the undemocratic forces to derail the country from the democratic path.

They confessed that due to their past mistakes, the undemocratic forces got a chance to exploit the situation.

The two leaders, the sources said, had agreed to cooperate with each other inside the parliament in future for elimination of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and the 17th Constitutional Amendment.

Both Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto resolved that they would defeat every attempt of the regime to create rift and differences in their ranks.