The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Islamabad

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday rebuffed a senior U.S. official for saying that Pakistan should focus on food prices and militancy rather than the fate of President Pervez Musharraf.

"What Pakistan has to do with its president, who is an unconstitutional president, this is Pakistan's internal affair, this is not Pakistan's external affair. We do not need any external consultation in this," Sharif told reporters.

Sharif was reacting to comments by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher who said Wednesday after meeting Pakistani leaders in Islamabad that the country had a raft of pressing problems on its plate. "Frankly, President Musharraf is not the issue right now," Boucher told reporters who queried him about the future of Musharraf, a close U.S. ally.