Pakistani newspapers and markets today were abuzz with rumours of a period of political uncertainty caused by public reaction to Sharif's promise to the US that Pakistan would take steps to end the conflict with India.

Sharif's parleys in Washington are seen as a step by Pakistan to try and pull out those militants although Pakistan officially says that these are fighters from within India and all Pakistan can do is ``request'' them to withdraw.

Right-wing parties accuse Sharif of selling out to the United States and India and have vowed to start a movement to bring down his government. The Jamaat-e-Islami held a black day to protest what it calls Sharif's ``Washington conspiracy.''

Smelling blood, Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, currently in self-exile in London, has also indicated she will return this month tolaunch a movement to oust the present regime.

For its part, the Army has backed Sharif. Army chief General Pervez Musharraf told mediapersons that Sharif had taken the armed forces into confidence over the proposed plan to resolve the conflict.

But rumours that the Army was split over the issue hit the stock markets, pulling it down 2.8 per cent in the final 20 minutes of first-session trading.

Analysts say while it will be hard to force Sharif to step down -- he is Pakistan's most powerful elected prime minister yet -- political uncertainty can affect the economy, which is still recovering from sanctions.

Sharif is expected to return this week although government officials have not given any date.

On Tuesday, Pakistan said it would ask Islamic insurgents to withdraw from the peaks of Kargil in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but the final decision will be theirs, newspapers on Tuesday quoted the Army chief as saying.

In an interview to the Urdu-language Jang, General Musharraf said that anestimated 1,500 to 2,000 ``Kashmiri freedom fighters are fighting bravely'' in Indian-controlled Kashmir's Kargil and Drass sectors.

``The mujahideen will be requested to (revise) their position... it still has to be seen what their answer will be,'' he was quoted as saying.

Musharraf also said that Pakistan's powerful military was behind the Clinton-Sharif agreement. ``There is complete harmony between the Army and the government regarding Nawaz Sharif's Washington mission,'' he was quoted as saying.

Also, today the government came under attack in the National Assembly for launching diplomatic initiatives without first consulting parliamentarians. Sharif's government commands a two-thirds majority in the Parliament but the Opposition appears unlikely to let it off lightly.

In a lengthy speech to Parliament, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Siddique Kanju said Pakistan will ``appeal to the Islamic insurgents to withdraw'' because they had already brought ``the Kashmir dispute to the internationalstage.''

He said Sharif was stepping up diplomatic efforts to get a final settlement to the dispute. Pakistan is pushing for implementation of a 1948 United Nations resolution allowing Kashmiris on both sides of the disputed border to vote on whether to join India or Pakistan.

For the man on the street, Sharif's visit to Washington met with a mixed response. Some traders say the move was needed to avert a war but others insist Sharif has sold out at a time when Pakistan had an edge in the Kashmir issue for the first time since the 1971 war.

This argument is fast gaining currency in Sharif's home province of Punjab.