Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has slammed former premier Benazir Bhutto for attacking leaders of the ruling Paksitan Muslim League-Q and assured them that he would not let them down.
Musharraf, who has been holding secret parleys with Bhutto over the past few months to forge a possible power-sharing arrangement with her Pakistan People's Party, gave this assurance during a meeting with top PML-Q leaders on Thursday, Dawn news channel reported.
During the meeting, which was held at prime minister's house and chaired by the military ruler, PML-Q leaders reportedly complained to Musharraf about Bhutto's recent comments against them following the suicide attack on her convoy last week and expressed their misgivings about the parleys being held with her.
After the meeting, Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid, a close aide of Musharraf, told reporters that the "blame-game" being played by Bhutto was "irresponsible".
He also said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deported to Saudi Arabia within hours of arriving in Islamabad after seven years in exile, will not be allowed to return to the country before the general election, due in January.
The first high-level meeting of the PML-Q leaders after Bhutto's return to Pakistan on October 18 was also attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Musharraf also told the PML-Q leaders that UN atomic watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency and international agencies would not be give access to nuclear scientist A Q Khan in connection with the proliferation of atomic know-how and technology by him.
He said there were no foreign troops currently operating in Pakistan.
