Islamabad: Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain today agreed to cooperate unconditionally to strengthen democracy in the country.

Zardari spoke to the London-based Hussain on phone late tonight and discussed the political situation in the wake of Monday s general election in which the PPP emerged the largest party in the National Assembly.

The MQM too performed well in the polls, bagging 19 seats in the lower house of parliament and emerging as the second largest party in the southern Sindh province, where the PPP is set to form the government.

While unveiling plans yesterday for forming a coalition in the centre along with former premier Nawaz Sharif s PML-N, Zardari had said he wanted to form a government of national consensus that would include parties like the MQM.

During their 30-minute conversation, Zardari and Hussain and discussed the possibility of forming a coalition government at the centre and in Sindh. They said their parties would cooperate with each other and the modalities for power-sharing will be discussed at a later stage.

If the PPP and MQM cooperate, it will usher in an era of unprecedented development in Sindh, they said. Zardari said the MQM is a popular party in Sindh and ignoring it would be a "big mistake".

The PPP and the MQM have traditionally been rivals in Sindh but the two leaders noted that there would be "no peace" in Sindh if the two parties went against each other.

The other parties being wooed by the PPP to form a coalition at the centre, including the PML-N and the ANP, are wary about Zardari s efforts to rope in the MQM as it had backed President Pervez Musharraf and his unpopular regime.

Source : PTI