Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. — AP Photo
WASHINGTON Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has slammed PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and labelled him as a 'closeted Taliban', media reports said.

The reports claimed that while talking to journalists at a dinner reception near Seattle, Mr Musharraf said that the former prime minister was a great threat to the stability of Pakistan.

Mr Musharraf also said that Pakistani politicians were being hypocritical on the issue of the NRO as those who favoured the controversial ordinance when it was issued were now opposing it.

But the organisers of the reception contradicted media reports, saying that the former general did not call Mr Sharif a “closeted Taliban”.

“He did not say anything of the sort,” said Rizwan Nasr, a member of the executive board of the Friends of Pakistan First group which had organised the dinner and Mr Musharraf's visit to Seattle.

“He did not utter these words at any event in Seattle,” Mr Nasr said.

In his address to the reception, Mr Musharraf said India and Pakistan must end their confrontation and go for peace.

Speaking to several hundred mostly Pakistani-Americans, Gen (retd) Musharraf also said he would return to politics if he believed he had enough support to make a difference.

“We must stop this confrontation between India and Pakistan... We must go for peace for the sake of the world, because the world considers us to be a nuclear flashpoint,” Seattle Times quoted him as saying at a press conference in the city on Sunday.

Denying that Pakistan had supported terrorist activity in India, he accused it of “hyper reactions” after the 26/11 Mumbai carnage that India blamed on Pakistani terrorists.

Mr Musharraf also accused India of supporting terrorism in Pakistan, including in Balochistan.

Mr Musharraf has been on an extended lecture tour of the US and Europe since stepping down in August 2008.

His visit to Seattle prompted more than 70 protesters to gather on Sunday evening outside the Westin Hotel in Bellevue where he spoke after the press conference.

Responding to a question about his return to Pakistan, Mr Musharraf said he would do so if the people wanted him and if he believed he had enough support to make a contribution.

“If I have to just go there and join a political fray and be involved in accusations and counter-accusations ... like most of the politicians are doing...I am not interested in that kind of politics,” he maintained.

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