Sharif accuses Zardari of barring him from elections

ISLAMABAD: Setting the stage for a possible showdown with his former ally, Pakistan���s opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has accused President Asif Ali Zardari of trying to get him disqualified from contesting polls through cases in the Supreme Court.

Former premier Mr Sharif cautioned Asif Ali Zardari against conspiracies aimed at getting him and his brother Shahbaz disqualified from contesting polls.

���I don���t want to name anyone but Zardari should not insult us through a governor or try to get us disqualified (from contesting polls) through cases in the Supreme Court,��� he told thousands of cheering supporters at a meeting of his party's general council at Raiwind in Lahore yesterday.

Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab, have been engaged in a war of words with the province's Governor, Salman Taseer, who is a close aide of Zardari.

A case related to the Sharif brothers' eligibility to contest polls has been dragging in the Supreme Court for the past few months. Mr Sharif was barred from contesting last year's general election and subsequent by-polls because he was convicted in a criminal case filed against him after his government was deposed by former Army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Questioning efforts to stymie his plans to contest polls, Sharif said he was willing to sacrifice everything, including the PML-N-led government in Punjab province for Pakistan's future and an independent judiciary. "Today I don't need any Musharraf or Zardari. I am not trying to snatch the position of President of Pakistan, nor am I fixated on the post of prime minister," he said.

���If President Zardari's personal agenda is an obstacle for Pakistan's agenda, then I want it to be removed.��� Sharif has for long campaigned for the reinstatement of judges deposed by Musharraf in the 2007 emergency, including former SC Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Observers say Zardari is reluctant to restore Chaudhry as he might repeal a controversial law passed by Musharraf to drop graft cases against Zardari and other leaders of his Pakistan People's Party.