The Sharif government was caught off-guard in the national assembly yesterday when a ruling party member from Karachi, Ijaz Shafi, reiterated his earlier allegation that the MQM was paid a hefty amount to revive its alliance with the League to tide over the no-confidence motion in the Sindh assembly.

Minutes ago, Choudhury Nisar Ali Khan, a senior minister in Sharif's cabinet who had played a crucial role in bringing the MQM back into the alliance, had categorically rejected charges that any money was paid to the party.

Nisar was replying to questions raised by the opposition on statements made by Shafi in the media that a ``secret money deal'' was struck to bring the MQM back to the treasury benches. He also attacked the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP),suggesting that if the MQM was ``involved in money politics'', the PPP too could have won its cooperation during its reign by offering money.

He stressed that the government and the MQM had agreed on a one-point agenda ``and that is the implementation of the agreement between the two parties.''

``The main theme of agenda with the MQM is restoration of peace in Karachi which we hope is possible with the help of MQM,'' he added.

The allegations about MQM being bribed by the government arose following Sharif's recent visit to London where he met the MQM's self-exiled chief, Altaf Hussain, after which the two agreed to restore their alliance.

Earlier, the MQM had announced his decision to snap ties with the Pakistan Muslim League, alleging failure of the Nawaz Sharif government to fulfil an alliance agreement signed after the elections in February 1997. MQM ministers -- in the federal government as well as in the Sindh government -- had resigned en masse.

The MQM had then held that government agencieswere backing a breakaway faction of the party known as the MQM (Haqiqi) and had led to large-scale violence in Karachi.

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