Ruling coalition on the rocks

“They’ve been supporting a dictator for eight long years,” Sharif said of the US. “They’ve equated Mr Musharraf with the 170 million people of Pakistan. That wasn’t a good policy.”

About other problems facing Pakistan, he said: “We know the economy is in trouble. I think the problems this country is facing can’t be dealt with single-handedly. We have to fight together.”

Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted, said he bore no grudge against the former military ruler but he must be held accountable for his actions.

“I’m not a man who believes in revenge. Although he mistreated me, I don’t have any score to settle with him. But somebody who dismisses the parliament, subverts the constitution, arrests the judges must tell the people why he did that. He must answer these questions under whatever forum the law provides,” he said.