In a significant development, the MQM's self-exiled chief Altaf Hussain said his party was ready to join hands with other parties, including the PPP, on the basis of a single agenda of ``restoration of the Sindh assembly and provincial autonomy''.

``Provincial autonomy is essential for the survival of Pakistan,'' Hussain told the local English daily Frontier Post from his London residence over the telephone.

Hussain accused Sharif of motivating the Karachi operation as he wanted to ``finish off the MQM and its leadership for its growing popularity'' and warned against ``pushing the Mohajir community'' to the wall.

Hussain's statement is significant as the MQM had fought the February 1997 election against the PPP like``bitter enemies''. And immediately after the poll, it tied up with Sharif's PML to form the coalition government in Sindh depriving the PPP of a chance of forming the government despite being the single largest party in the Sindh assembly.

The MQM, the second largest party in the province, however broke its alliance with the PML last week when Sharif accused it of promoting terrorism in Karachi and asked it to hand over the alleged killer of a former governor of Sindh to the government.

There have also been reports of MQM and PPP leaders holding meetings in Islamabad.

Both parties have announced their opposition to the Shariah bill mooted by Sharif.

The PML's alliances with the Awami National Party (ANP) of the Frontier province and the Jamhoori Watan Party of Baluchistan have also broken up.

And a section of the Baluchistan National Party has parted ways with the PML leaving it with nothing more than a clutch of small religious parties.

Sixteen tribal parliamentarians on Tuesday warned theruling party that if their demands -- which include ministerial posts -- were not met by the Prime Minister, they would switch allegiance to the opposition.

Parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan told mediapersons in Peshawar that they should be given at least two berths in the cabinet and that a long standing demand on development of tribal areas should be met.

Meanwhile, Britain has rejected a request from Pakistan to extradite a former intelligence deputy chief, whose report on alleged corruption and siphoning of millions of dollars outside Pakistan by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was leaked to the British press recently. The British government refused to oblige the Pakistani government to arrest and extradite Rehman Malik, former deputy chief of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), living in self-imposed exile in London, the Dawn said from London.

The paper quoting a source in the British police said the request came through Interpol andthe British police were told that Malik was wanted in Pakistan for ``non-payment of taxes on luxury cars.'' The sources said in view of no extradition treaty between Pakistan and Britain, Islamabad had approached Interpol for Malik's extradition.