ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his harshest public attack yet on President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Saturday accused Khan of 'hatching conspiracies' against him and dared the president to 'test me inside or outside the parliament.'
Sharif, in a broadcast over nationwide television and radio, blamed Khan for stirring Pakistan's political crisis, which has seen the resignations of some 10 top officials over the past month, and vowed: 'I will not resign.
'I will not dissolve parliament and I will not take dictations from anybody,' Sharif said.
'If anyone suspects my strength, he is welcome to test me inside or outside the parliament,' Sharif said.
The leader of the parliamentary opposition, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said she did not wish to get involved in the power struggle between the president and the prime minister.
'The ball is in the president's court. Let him come with a reaction, ' said Bhutto, who was dismissed by Khan in August 1990.
Meanwhile, Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Sri Lanka and a close aide to Sharif, resigned after hearing the prime minister's speech.
'The prime minister has gone for a head-on collision with the president,' Haqqni said. 'This will create a constitutional crisis in the country. I resign to protest against his decision to go for a direct clash with Khan.'
But, so far the president and his office have remained silent on the issue, fueling rumors that he may be seriously considering taking punitive action against Sharif.
Khan's supporters were particularly upset over Sharif's order to arrest one of their colleagues, the former minister of state for economic affairs, Sardar Assef Ali.
Assef had accused Sharif of harboring Arab terrorists in Pakistan. Sharif ordered the police to register a treason case against Assef. The minister for religious affairs, Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi, said police had already arrested Assef.
The prime minister had been expected to use his scheduled address to the nation to announce his resignation, but instead took the opportunity to challenge the president.
It was the first time in recent Pakistani history that a serving prime minister had openly accused the president of trying tooverthrow his government.
Sharif blamed Khan for 'hatching conspiracies against me and my government' and said Khan was encouraging those who were trying to buy votes against him in the parliament.
'Such a dirty horse-trading was never seen in Pakistan before,' Sharif said.
He said it was a shame that the presidency, which represented the federal government and was expected to strengthen it, had become 'the center of all consiracies against the same government.'
'Political orphans, who had no refuge in the country, were sheltered in the presidency,' Sharif said. 'One such governor has been living there for weeks, trying to topple a legally elected government.'
The president enjoys discretionary power under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution that allows him to dismiss a government and dissolve parliament if he determines such an action to be in the national interest.
Sharif himself took office in November 1990 after Khan used the amendment to remove Bhutto from the post of prime minister.
The current crisis between Sharif and Khan began last month when Sharif said he intended to introduce a bill in parliament seeking to reduce that constitutional power.
Although Sharif later said he had changed his mind and offered to work under Khan, the president rejected the offer.
Khan's supporters in Sharif's Cabinet have also undermined the prime minister's government. During the last three weeks, about 10 ministers and parliamentary secretaries quit. All cited policy differences with Sharif.
