Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is calling on the U.S. to abandon ties to President Pervez Musharraf.
During an appearance on Voice of America, Mr. Sharif said Pakistan was going through a major security and political crisis and that President Musharraf should be excluded from the national government.
Mr. Sharif also said the government has done nothing to improve security after the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He criticized his own security detail, saying he had not been given a bullet and bomb-proof vehicle.
Mr. Sharif has accused President Musharraf of ordering anti-terror operations that have left the country "drowned in blood."
The former Pakistani prime minister has been campaigning for his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party ahead of the February 18 parliamentary elections. Mr. Sharif has been barred from running.
He was deposed by President Musharraf in coup in 1999.
