ISLAMABAD. Sept 8: Former Pakistani premier Benazir' Bhutto said today a massive anti-government protest campaign would not stop until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigns, reports Reuters.

"Pakistan is sliding towards anarchy and that's Mr Nawaz Sharifs responsibility,'' Benazir told the BBC World Service. a day after opposition parties formed a huge alliance to force Sharifs resignation.

The alliance called for a general strike in the volatile southern province of Sindh for Saturday to protest at alleged custodial killings of political workers by police and said it would hold a public rally in the provincial capital Karachi the same day.

Three major protests against

Sharifs government have'been held in a little more than one week.

'The strikes are going to continue until Nawaz Sharif resigns." she said.

The alliance, announced after meetings of opposition politicians in Sharifs central home town of Lahore, brings together Benazir's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with some of its staunch former opponents and one-time Sharif allies, including the strong Karachibased ethnic Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The alliance of 19 political parties and groups includes the PPP-led 15-party Pakistan Awami Ittehad, the MQM, the Awami National Party (ANP) based in the North West Frontier Province and Tehrike-e;In-

saf, party of cricket hero Imran Khan.

The former premier denied allegations that the alliance of one-time rivals was more a product of political opportunism than shared ideals.

"The situation is so grave in Pakistan today that those whom you call sworn enemies are actually getting together." she said.

Speaking from the United States, she also refuted suggestions that the country's powerful military might use the current upheavals to step in and take power.

"We wouldn't like the army to step in and I’m hopeful that the army itself would not like to take on the responsibility of running Pakistan," she said.