Islamabad: Deposed Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif has revealed that he was offered a deal to contest next week's elections by President Pervez Musharraf, the Army General who ousted him in a military coup three years ago.

In a rare interview in exile in Saudi Arabia, Sharif told BBC Radio's Urdu-language service that Musharraf sent an envoy earlier this year inviting him to return to Pakistan to contest the Parliamentary elections under a deal.

He turned down the offer, but refused to go into details.

Sharif, interviewed in a palace supplied to him by the Saudi royal family, also refused to have his voice recorded, saying, "I do not want to embarrass my hosts".

The two-time former prime minister and a family entourage of almost 20 headed into exile in the oil-rich kingdom in December 2000 under a deal brokered by the Saudi royal family.

The exile agreement, which released Sharif from prison on hijacking and tax evasion convictions, has never been made public.

Musharraf says the Sharif's signed papers agreeing not to return to Pakistan for 10 years. The Sharif's deny making any such commitment.

Sharif vowed to continue his fight against the dictatorship of General Musharraf, according to a paraphrase of the interview run on the BBC's website. He was described as defiant and emotional.

Sharif alleged that Musharraf sent Majid Nizami, a newspaper owner close to the Sharif family, with a specific proposal for political rapprochement.

He told the interviewer he could not even consider a deal with Musharraf, whom he accused of betraying his oath of office.

Sharif appointed Musharraf as Army Chief in October 1998, promoting him over three more senior Generals. He said he now deeply regretted the move.

He branded next Thursday's (October 10) elections, the first since Musharraf toppled him and threw him in jail, "farcical".

Sharif handed over the party leadership to his younger brother Shahbaz in August but election authorities have rejected Shahbaz's candidacy.

The former premier recently withdrew his nomination papers for the general elections to show his solidarity with his former arch foe Benazir Bhutto after the election authorities also rejected her candidacy.

When asked if leaving Pakistan to escape being jailed was a betrayal of the masses, Sharif replied that every thing was decided by God, so when God decided to send them to Saudi Arabia, the family accepted it as a blessing in disguise.