Sharif teams up with Bhutto in Sindh

Islamabad Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, currently making a foray into Sindh province to garner political support in the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) stronghold, has won over influential veteran Sindhi nationalist leader Mumtaz Ali Bhutto.

Bhutto announced the merger of his party, the Sindh National Front (SNF), with the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), the country's main opposition party headed by Sharif, at a rally in Rato Dero in the Larkana district.

In speeches at the gathering, both politicians hailed the merger which analysts say will help Sharif's PML-N expand its hitherto insignificant political clout in the country's second largest province.

The chief of PML-N, currently in power in Punjab, home to 60 per cent of Pakistan's 180 million population, said: "Together we will build Sindh and build Pakistan."

He said Bhutto's stance on giving more rights and power to the provinces mirrored the PML-N's.

Bhutto is the first cousin of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the PPP. He served as governor and chief minister of Sindh when Zulfikar was in power in the 1970s.