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Bhutto and Sharif parties try to seal deal in Punjab

The parties of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are holding talks to reach an electoral understanding in the country's most populous province, Punjab, for the January 8 parliamentary elections.

  • By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
  • Published: 22:58 December 24, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif addresses his supporters during an election campaign in Sukkur on Monday.
  • Image Credit: AP

Islamabad: The parties of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are holding talks to reach an electoral understanding in the country's most populous province, Punjab, for the January 8 parliamentary elections.

"Talks between the two parties are going on for seat adjustments in Punjab," Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar told a private channel yesterday.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bhutto's PPP are hoping to outsmart the PML-Q, which was in power in the province, with a larger share of seats in the 342-seat national assembly than in the three other provinces.

Interior Minister in the caretaker government, Hamid Nawaz, meanwhile, told the media that adequate security had been provided for prominent political personalities, including Bhutto, Sharif, former premier Shaukat Aziz and former minister Aftab Khan Sherpao.

Al Qaida operatives posed a serious threat to President Musharraf, Sherpao and Jamiat Ulema Islam party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said.

Sherpao survived a suicide attack while at a mosque in his native town of Charsaddah in the restive northwest to mark Eid on Friday. Some 50 people died and scores were injured in the attack.

Hamid Nawaz said the probe into the Charsaddah attack had made progress but did not divulge details.

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