Making Musharraf Army chief was ''fatal mistake'': Sharif

Islamabad, Apr 20 (UNI) Firmly ruling out any deal with the present Pakistan regime, deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted he had committed a ''fatal mistake'' in appointing Pervez Musharraf the Army Chief and charged him with keeping the then government in the dark about the Kargil episode.

''I will neither talk to President Musharraf nor will I strike a deal with him. I don't believe in such things,'' the exiled leader said, asserting that ''no written or verbal agreement on his exile was reached with the military ruler.'' ''Being a premier, I committed many mistakes ... I admit this.

Making Gen Musharraf the army chief by superseding two senior generals was a mistake,'' the Daily Times today reported Mr Sharif, presently in London, as saying in an interview on TV.

In 1998, Mr Sharif's government had appointed Gen Musharraf -- the third in seniority -- as the Army chief after obtaining the resignation of Gen Jehangir Karamat. Lt Generals Ali Quli Khan Khattak and Khalid Nawaz, next in line, had promptly resigned their commissions on being superceeded.

Mr Sharif claimed that this ''fatal mistake'' could have been avoided had the army not revolted and kept him in the dark about Kargil.

''If a democratic government commits a mistake, it does not mean that the army should revolt against it,'' he said.

The exiled Prime Minister said he had no knowledge about the ground situation in Kargil and only Lt Gen Mohd Aziz Khan and Gen Mahmoud Ahmed -- at that time the Chief of the General Staff and the X Corps Commander -- were informed by Gen Musharraf about the Kargil ''misadventure.'' '' No other Corps Commander was told about this. Where does a country stand if its army conceals such matters from its Prime Minister?'' Mr Sharif sought to know.

UNI