August 18, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 4, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 17: Former Punjab governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar on Friday threatened Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto with creating a “Bhutto group” within the party if she did not abrogate her “deal” with Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He also welcomed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plan to return to the country, saying that his return had become all the more important after the Musharraf-Benazir deal.

Mr Khar told a news conference at the Lahore Press Club the Benazir-Musharraf deal was “a compromise between the two to serve their vested interests against national interests”.

He said the PPP had lost three-fourth of its votes in urban areas due to the “deal”. He predicted the “deal” would die within six months.

The “deal”, he said, would make an adverse impact on the federation, democracy and even the unity of the country because, he said, Gen Musharraf and a democratic Pakistan could not co-exist.

The PPP leader also appealed to the Saudi government to help former prime minister Nawaz Sharif return home to launch a movement against the military rulers who, he said, had endangered the unity of the federation.