Benazir Bhutto claims to have secured a "verbal" agreement from her main rival for the Pakistani premiership to a power-sharing arrangement that would give her the first turn at running the country.

In an interview with the FT, Ms Bhutto said that she and Nawaz Sharif, the exiled leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), had struck the bargain so they could present a common front in their battle to reassert civilian control over the army.