Islamabad, Apr 14: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party the PML-N has once again declared that its ministers in the PPP-led coalition government would not meet or accompany President Pervez Musharraf on foreign trips because the party did not see Musharraf as a constitutional and legal President.

Senior PML-N leader Ch Nisar Ali Khan said that the PML-N did not accept Musharraf as a constitutional and legal president because “he had come through force”.

“We are not willing to enter into any kind of working relationship with Musharraf,” The Nation quoted Khan as saying while talking to a private TV channel last evening.

Nisar said that the people of the country had given mandate to the PML-N, and the party’s elected members were committed to working for the development of the country and welfare of its people. They have joined the government in the larger interest of democracy, and would not compromise on principles, added Khan.

Earlier, immediately after the new government was sworn in, the party had declared that its ministers would not interact with the President for any purpose or on any occasion.

The animosity between the PML-N and Musharraf goes back to October 1999 when the latter removed the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup, after which Nawaz had to spend the following eight years in exile in Saudi Arabia. (ANI)