KARACHI, Dec 13: The PML-N Information Secretary Siddique Al-Farooq rejected any secret deal or negotiations with the regime headed by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Speaking at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, he said that there could not be any deal between patriotic Pakistanis and a usurper.

He categorically stated that negotiations could only be held after Gen Musharraf publicly apologised to the nation for the mistake he had committed, restored the constitution in its original form, allowed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to return home, and announced elections under an independent election commission.

Claiming that Pakistan was not safe under the military-led dispensation, he warned that its integrity was in danger. He claimed that Nawaz Sharif had not left the country under any agreement, and added that no woman of his family had signed any deal with the government. "If there was any such agreement, then why the government is not making it public?''

The government also did not produce any such agreement when Shahbaz Sharif's petition was taken up by a court, he recalled. The PML-N leader criticised the government over prevailing political discontent and accused the government for deliberately introducing the issues which appeared divisive and centrifugal in nature.

In this context, he made mention of the Kalabagh Dam and Greater Thal Canal projects. Unless there was a consensus, no such project be executed, he demanded. Mr Farooq apprehended that the government's failure in addressing the water issue properly could be disastrous for the country.